Former Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel has revealed how Chelsea won the battle for his signature back in 2013.
Voetbal Zone cover comments from the 33-year-old today as he continues to discuss his time at Chelsea this week. This time he appeared on the Cor Potcast YouTube channel.
Sport Witness have already covered comments from the former midfielder this week. Those came in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport. He insisted he didn’t regret his time at Chelsea despite his career not going to plan.
Van Ginkel was once regarded as one of Europe’s most promising midfield talents. That led to a high-profile move to Chelsea in 2013.
ACL injury issues
However, a series of ACL injuries limited him to just four first-team appearances for the Blues over an eight-year contract.
His success instead came away from Chelsea, where he found significant success during loan spells at PSV Eindhoven.
The £8m Chelsea paid for him at the time was considered a significant fee at the time. It reflected his status as one of Europe’s top prospects.
He had just won the Dutch Football Talent of the Year. Jose Mourinho reportedly saw him as a long-term replacement for Frank Lampard.
Chelsea outmove Ajax
The fee saw them outmanoeuvre the likes of Ajax that summer. Van Ginkel, though, says there were other reasons he never headed to the Dutch giants.
“It’s common knowledge. But I was almost done with Ajax at that point. Those talks went well,” he said.
“Those talks just happened outside the club’s control. Then Chelsea came into contact with Vitesse. And they really said: we’re going to attack the top. No one from Vitesse is going to a club that could be our rival.
“There were two other clubs interested,” admits the candid Van Ginkel. “And Chelsea too. And then things moved quite quickly. We went over and spoke with the manager. Then you get a five-year offer, with a good plan behind it. You can hardly say ‘no.'”