Van Ginkel to miss season with torn ACL

Chelsea and Netherlands midfielder Marco van Ginkel suffered a torn ACL during the League Cup match against Swindon Town on Tuesday (Getty Images)

The worst fears of Chelsea fans have been realized in the case of Marco Van Ginkel – an MRI scan Wednesday revealed he suffered a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in the match against Swindon Town on Tuesday, and will almost certainly miss the remainder of the season.

My heart really goes out to the lad, as he had featured a few times for the Blues this campaign so far, and I really saw some promise in the youngster forcing his way into the first-team for regular action. Furthermore, it’s suggested that the injury will likely rule him out of the World Cup next summer in Brazil.

A huge blow to Van Ginkel who, by most accounts, had all but booked his ticket to travel to Brazil with the Oranje next summer.Best of luck to Van Ginkel and I wish him the speediest of recoveries. Hopefully he can return next season with the same sledgehammer force that Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL was able to do (for all of you out there who happen to know anything about the NFL).

It’s far from a career-ending injury – if the surgery and rehab goes well – as Peterson demonstrated in 2012 – he fell only 9 yards shy of breaking the NFL all-time single-season rushing back just 10 months after suffering a similarly devastating knee injury, an almost superhuman accomplishment.

Quite ironically, Peterson and the Vikings are in London this week as they will be taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Wembley Stadium on Sunday as part of the NFL’s attempt to break into the European market (as if that’s going to happen). Maybe Adrian can offer some encouraging words to the young Dutchman while he’s in London and help keep him in a positive mindset!

Best of luck Marco!