Looking at Marco Van Ginkel

[NishC300 1,865]

On Friday 5th July 2013, Chelsea Football Club proudly announced the successful signing of Marco van Ginkel for a reported £8 million deal on a 5-year contract. And it has not taken him long to impress his new set of fans here.

The Dutchman - signed from Chelsea’s ‘Dutch Cousin’ Vitesse Arnhem - is an all round midfielder who boats a wide range of abilities and qualities which has caused men with red-black color tablecloth kits up north in Manchester to feel envy of the purchase.

His constant appearance and consistent performance for Chelsea in pre-season has led to fans comparing him with Frank Lampard and former Chelsea midfielders Claude Makelele and Michael Ballack. The current Chelsea midfield is not what it used to be in the recent years gone by. The absence of a midfield enforcer or creator in the likes of Ballack, Makelele, Tiago or Deco has seen the Blues struggled in midfield especially when they face quality oppositions and have been found wanting on many occasions. Lampard is useful but has lost that energy, pace and that ‘bite’ with age and Michael Essien has struggled with injuries.

This has led to the club linked with several midfielders in the past 2-3 years ranging from the likes of Daniele de Rossi, Luka Modric, Benat to Kondogbia. However, the signing and performances of van Ginkel so far may suggest Chelsea have found a capable replacement.

A fluent English speaker before his arrival in London, his versatility allows him to play in numerous positions in midfield. He also has a tendency to make late runs into the opposition penalty box - a common characteristic of Lampard’s game - and possesses the ability to unleash long range screamers from distance. Moreover, being 6’ 11” and having a good physique for a 20-year old, van Ginkel is like a midfield destroyer, not afraid to put challenges in, uses his body strength in many situations during pre-season matches to dispossess players off the ball. The Dutchman has also showed his capabilities in intercepting passes and tracking the runs of opposing players when being on the defensive as well as being able to play incisive passes and through balls to his teammates.

He has certainly been very impressive throughout the pre-season and continues to improve culminating in arguably becoming the Blues best player against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

All the praise van Ginkel has received - including from Marc Overmars - appears to be justified. The new signing does not seem to have any real weakness and throughout this pre-season, he has played intelligently and perhaps cautiously, though possibly on Mourinho’s order. And not only has he been compared to Chelsea players, British tabloid ‘Daily Mail’ have gone further in comparing his looks with teenage pop sensation, Justin Bieber!

Moving from Vitesse Arnhem to one of Europe’s biggest clubs like Chelsea is no doubt a huge step up but van Ginkel has certainly made himself known to the fans and proved that he deserves a proper chance to shine after wanting playing time at Stamford Bridge. Best of luck Marco and rock the world!

[Mufassir08 2,400]

He is great defensively but his passing range is limited.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

He is great defensively but his passing range is limited.

See him play for Vitesse and the Netherlands U-21. your opinion will change buddy.

[Strike 7,217]

Great write-up

good midfield operator. throws up a number of possible midfield combinations

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

Already close to becoming my fav player in the team. He does all the dirty work that Lampard can't be fucked doing. Just gets stuck in and passes it on. His footballing intelligence is great too; he knows when to pass, how much weight to put on the pass, when to dribble, when to sit back, when to cover, when to go into a tackle etc. This guy with his current ability and his potential could be an absolute steal for 9m in years to come. Hes been the biggest surprise of the summer so far, glad United didn't get him. From what I heard at Vitesse he was also a regular goal scorer last season, so hopefully we'll see him score some golazos too!

Edited August 10, 2013 by RyanDavidson

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Already close to becoming my fav player in the team. He does all the dirty work that Lampard can't be fucked doing. Just gets stuck in and passes it on. His footballing intelligence is great too; he knows when to pass, how much weight to put on the pass, when to dribble, when to sit back, when to cover, when to go into a tackle etc. This guy with his current ability and his potential could be an absolute steal for 9m in years to come. Hes been the biggest surprise of the summer so far, glad United didn't get him. From what I heard at Vitesse he was also a regular goal scorer last season, so hopefully we'll see him score some golazos .

He has played a total of 130 career games , in which he has scored 26 times and picked up an assist 20 times. Out of those, 18 goals and 16 assists have come from 93 games in the Eredivisie.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

He has played a total of 130 career games , in which he has scored 26 times and picked up an assist 20 times. Out of those, 18 goals and 16 assists have come from 93 games in the Eredivisie.

He scored 10 last year thats all I seen haha. He got 9 or 10 assists too..

[hjperdeath 2,226]

He scored 10 last year thats all I seen haha. He got 9 or 10 assists too..

True his assists are quite good. A lot like Alonso with those gorgeous long balls. He's developing at a rapid and scary rate. Horrific for others ofcourse.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

See him play for Vitesse and the Netherlands U-21. your opinion will change buddy.

Hopefully i am wrong.If he improves his passing range then we will have our very own gundogun.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Hopefully i am wrong.If he improves his passing range then we will have our very own gundogun.

And hopefully an improved version of Gundogan.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

And hopefully an improved version of Gundogan.

Thats a big ask but one can hope

[termninja 5,290]

I like everything about him except his awful gay hairstyle I would shave his head, he would be 10 times scarier and half of the time he wouldn't even have to put the tackle in because players would turn around and run away

[hjperdeath 2,226]

I like everything about him except his awful gay hairstyle I would shave his head, he would be 10 times scarier and half of the time he wouldn't even have to put the tackle in because players would turn around and run away

Why not just try that with Torres?

[Sidzeret 2,257]

I like everything about him except his awful gay hairstyle I would shave his head, he would be 10 times scarier and half of the time he wouldn't even have to put the tackle in because players would turn around and run away

Reminds me of gay fucking Bieber

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Guess Mourinho is making him to a defensive midfielder from what i've seen so far. Hope he also develops a lot more vision into his passing or he'll be like Mikel. He'll do a great job holding down our pivot.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

Guess Mourinho is making him to a defensive midfielder from what i've seen so far. Hope he also develops a lot more vision into his passing or he'll be like Mikel. He'll do a great job holding down our pivot.

Hes not turning him into a defensive midfielder. Hes playing him as the deepest midfielder, the one who controls the tempo, he is effectively sitting in as a third center back at times to receive the ball and start attacks when we line up 4-2-3-1, with Ramires playing the box to box role.

Edited August 10, 2013 by RyanDavidson

[Mr_President 404]

Lads (and Barbara), I'd just like to say how great these articles have been recently and would like to thank you guys for taking the time to write them. It really adds something to the site that other football forums just don't offer. Cheers

Edited August 10, 2013 by Mr_President

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The tittle sounds so "pervy"