Introducing Chelsea's Marko Marin: Tale of the German Messi

Marko Marin : An artist's impression of him in the 2011-2012 Chelsea jersey

Chelsea have had some of the most exciting wingers in the world, who somehow started fading away as their lives started getting used to the London atmosphere. Arjen Robben, Florent Malouda and Damien Duff all found themselves looking another home, with the exception of Malouda, who’s expected to be culled soon anyway. In recent years, the Blues have always lacked a quality winger, with Nicolas Anelka sometimes going on the right, and Malouda bursting forward on the flanks. The lack of a creative winger has been one of the main reasons that inspite of having a complete monster like Drogba in the front, Chelsea don’t have an attractive attacking force. Mata had an immediate effect in the left wing area, easily adding a pleasing aesthetic side to Chelsea’s play. With the Hulk signing almost done, Marin and him could fight for the place on the right wing, or if Hulk doesn’t find his way to West London Marin might face competition for his spot from the high-flying Daniel Sturridge. To play attractive football wingers are needed, who can assist as well as cut into the box and latch a powerful shot goal wards.

On the 19th of May in Munich, the banner on the blue side read, “There should be only one German on the field, Marko Marin”. At 7 million, he is a complete bargain for someone who was defined as the hottest prospect in the football industry. Yes, there will be those who will rage about his recent performances for Werder Bremen not being good enough. Now the reasons for his under-performance could be:

Constantly plagued by injuries that greatly affected his performance: From Michael Owen and Michael Essien to Ronaldo (referring to El Fenomeno, not the guy with the good hair) and Kaka have all suffered injuries that has seen them out for long times, and whenever they have come back they brought in a different kind of spark that didn’t always last for long as another injury was following in their shadows.
He was shifted from the wings to the center: With the departure of Mesut Ozil from Werder Bremen to star-studded Spanish giants Real Madrid, due to his impressive performances in the 20120 World Cup, Marin was shifted to central midfield. Being a natural winger, he is known for his out-of-the-blue assists and though he recroded only 8 goals in 87 appearances, he was bought in by Chelsea for his ability to create goals out of nothing.

Everyone’s hoping the best, and I’m sure he’ll do well. But as I have said, only time will tell because you can prove yourself all you want in the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, a number of Asian leagues or the La Liga, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can be at your best at the toughest leagues of all, the English Premier League. I’m sure he must have talked to Mertasacker before moving to London about how different the style of play is. With Frank Lampard guiding Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Marko Marin, we might just have one of the most underestimated, attractive and unique midfield force that might just feed Fernando Torres all the ammunition he needs to fire all guns.