Enough is Enough: It is time for Chelsea to offload Marko van Ginkel
Chelsea have a whopping 38 players out on loan this season and one of them is Marco van Ginkel. Remember him? Van Ginkel signed a contract extension with the Blues last year, committing his future to the club until 2020. He has been at Chelsea for five years, signing from Dutch club Vitesse back in 2013.
The Dutchman, since arriving at Stamford Bridge, has played just 11 minutes in the Premier League. He has failed to make an impact at Chelsea, spending the majority of his career on loan.
Currently, Van Ginkel has been loaned to PSV Eindhoven and is due to return to Stamford Bridge in the summer. At PSV, the 25-year-old has been a massive hit, guiding the club to the Eredivisie title by scoring 14 goals and bagging 5 assists from central midfield. He has been the skipper of the Dutch side and has stepped up this season, adding to the 7 goals he scored last season.
Van Ginkel has been on loan at PSV for the past three seasons. Without any doubts, he has improved leaps and bounds as a player and the fact that he has been named as the Dutch club’s skipper by manager Philipp Cocu speak volumes about the Dutch midfielder.
Once considered as Chelsea’s midfielder of the future, he failed to make a mark after loans to AC Milan and Stoke City.
While on loan at Milan, the Dutchman made 18 appearances in the top-flight, gaining some valuable experience in a very tactical league. Upon his return to Chelsea in 2015, he was still not deemed ready for first-team action and was subsequently sent to Stoke.
At Stoke, Van Ginkel only got limited game time and following the signing of Giannelli Imbula, the Potters cut short his loan deal. He returned to Chelsea only to see himself get shipped out on loan again, this time to PSV, where he has shone over the last three years.
At 25, Van Ginkel is in his prime and might not consider another loan move away from Chelsea. Considering how the current Chelsea midfielders have performed this season, it would make sense if the Dutchman is given a chance to showcase his talent next season.
However, if the Blues aren’t ready to commit Van Ginkel a place in the first-team next season, it would be wise for them to recoup some amount by selling the midfielder in summer.
The Chelsea board will have a tough decision to make and given that Van Ginkel is at his peak market value, it is safe to offload him even though he has improved and matured as a player.