The 20-year old, Marco Van Ginkel is one of the potential super talents of Dutch football and has been signed by Chelsea from Vitesse Arnhem subject to a medical and personal terms being agreed.
Van Ginkel – a play-making, box to box, attacking, 6’1″ midfielder – is expected to follow in the footsteps of Holland’s current midfield stars Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben and perhaps emulate their success in the coming years. He has started his career in impressive fashion and has been crowned the Under-21 Dutch Player of the Year this year, an award which has been awarded not just to both Sneijder and Robben in previous seasons but also to a star-studded list of players like Klaas-Jan Huntelaar whilst with Ajax, Rafael van der Vaart whilst with Ajax, Robin van Persie whilst with Feyenoord, and more recently Eljero Elia whilst with Twente and Adam Maher (who has been linked with Arsenal) whilst with AZ Alkmaar.
To say Marco Van Ginkel is in high-class company is the understatement of the transfer window so far. This lad has MEGA talent and he is a brilliant signing and shows what Mourinho can do for you but it also speaks volumes about how Chelsea are viewed in the various “departments” of football – they are a high quality football team that is aiming for the highest standards for their academy right on up to the first team and these high standards extend in every other area of the team both commercially and in the community. Chelsea are a team on the up!
Back to the sensational young Van Ginkel, who had a breakthrough season last campaign and was being reportedly courted by a host of clubs, most notably English rivals Chelsea and Manchester United. The two giants are both going through a transition in terms of managerial personnel. Both of them have installed new managers ahead of the next season in the form of Jose Mourinho and David Moyes respectively.
The duo have been impressed by van Ginkel and were thought to be pondering over securing his services as they both see a need to strengthen their current midfield. Chelsea were the first ones to make a move as Mourinho ordered to make an initial inquiry for him a few weeks ago. It was being reported only recently that United too have made a late move in an attempt to gatecrash this deal and steal the playmaker from under Chelsea’s nose.
However, as Yahoo! Eurosport now report van Ginkel is signed, sealed and delivered to Mourinho at Chelsea, subject to the usual formalities. Mourinho was keen to bring him to Stamford Bridge as he views him as a long-term replacement for veteran Frank Lampard, who will be looking to retire in the coming few seasons.
Chelsea have even announced the capture of van Ginkel on their website, so clearly this is the second transfer under the second Mourinho era after Jose had already finalized the deal to bring German striker Andre Schurrle to London after the seemingly endless long, hard rounds of negotiations.
Do you see van Ginkel featuring straight away in the first-team squad or do you think Chelsea will send him out on loan for a season, maybe even to another team in the premier league?