Chelsea what ifs: Marco van Ginkel becomes the star that was promised

Marco van Ginkel has had years of his career stolen by injury. What if he managed to stay on course and fulfill his potential for Chelsea?

It is pretty well known that Jose Mourinho is not a big youth manager. But he saw something in Marco van Ginkel to play him as early as he did in his Chelsea career. Unfortunately, he was injured long term almost immediately and has been off and on fighting that or similar injuries ever since.

It is a tale that can unfortunately transfer to many other young Chelsea players before the youth revolution. They finally get their chance only for fate to slap it away. Even when Van Ginkel managed to get some momentum at PSV, it was only a matter of time before his injuries brought him back down again.

What if Van Ginkel had never gotten injured? What type of player would he have become? And would the same go for any of the other long term injured players Chelsea has seen over the years?

Van Ginkel played just 97 minutes for Chelsea. But as mentioned, those minutes were for Mourinho who is notoriously slow to trust any player let alone youth. Perhaps, like Van Ginkel himself, Mourinho saw something of Frank Lampard in the young Dutchman.

Had he stayed fit, it seems clear Mourinho would have continued to play Van Ginkel that season. He played in most of the matches in some capacity that season before his injury and was being groomed by Mourinho and mentored by Lampard.

Even post injury, at PSV when he managed to get a head of steam, Van Ginkel showed qualities that made him look worth a shot. He had to change his game to something more patient after his time off, but the quality overall was still there. Had he avoided the injury, he would have become something special.

Perhaps he would have been able to replicate Lampard’s time at Chelsea, even if only a paler imitation. He could have caused Chelsea to avoid any of the later Paul Pogba talk and by then he could have had enough in the tank to save Mourinho his job. A potential midfield trio of Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, and Van Ginkel could have achieved something great.

Of course, that is a lot of speculation that happens with every injured player. Kurt Zouma has never been quite the same since his injury but the potential to be a superstar was there. Same goes for Charly Musonda in recent times despite his propensity to let his mouth get ahead of ability.

But Van Ginkel will always feel like a special case, if only because of how little he played but how much he seemed to pack into that short time. In another life, Van Ginkel could have followed in Lampard’s footsteps and could have been a star. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

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