Twenty-year-old Dutch midfielder Marco van Ginkel will miss the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury in Chelsea’s Capital One Cup tie against Swindon earlier this week.

  • By David Lee Wheatley
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van g cChelsea issued a statement today on their website which read, “Chelsea Football Club can confirm Marco van Ginkel successfully underwent anterior cruciate ligament surgery today. The 20-year-old midfielder is expected to be out for approximately six months.”

It’s a shuddering blow for the former Vitesse star, who has experienced a stop-start opening to his Premier League career since joining Jose Mourinho’s men during the summer.

Controversy surrounded the midfielder when he announced in an interview that he’d have preferred to move to Ajax rather than joining Chelsea, but his club chose to push him in the direction of Stamford Bridge instead.

Now, his efforts to make a mark in England have been greatly hindered by long-term injury, thus casting serious doubts on his ability to come back and claim a place in the side.

An arduous road to recovery awaits van Ginkel and it will almost certainly be next season before we see him pulling on a blue shirt once more.