Marco Van Ginkel is one of the more recent cases of ‘What if’ footballers, and the Dutchman spent a year with AC Milan in the 2010s.
When thinking of recent footballers with massively high ceilings that never made it that far, Van Ginkel is one of the first to pop up in your mind. Coming through the youth academy at Vitesse, he was sold to Chelsea, where he would briefly stop by between spells with other clubs.
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It seemed, at times, that he would go on to make something fantastic of his career. However, injuries held him back massively, and the midfielder never went as far as many had imagined or perhaps hoped.
Van Ginkel’s time at Milan
One of the clubs to take a punt on him was Milan, who signed the youngster on loan on deadline day in the 2014-15 season, and today he spoke to Gazzetta dello Sport (via Calciomercato.com) about his experience at San Siro.
“It was a lightning negotiation, closed on the last day of the market. My agent suddenly called me saying, ‘We have to take a jet to Milan right away’. I remember the interview with Pippo Inzaghi in his office on the first day in Milanello.
“He was supposed to show me some slides on how to move around the field, but he spoke in Italian. I didn’t understand anything. At one point, I told him: ‘Mister, I don’t speak your language’. He pretended to understand and tried in English, even if you didn’t understand much.
“Inzaghi didn’t have a great management of the group. Maybe you played well for a couple of games, and then he put you on the bench. But he was his first-time coach, and I’ve always admired him as a person.
“Do you remember the companions? Rami made everyone in the locker room laugh. I bonded a lot with Suso, as well as with De Jong, Bonaventura and Alex. Muntari in training risked breaking my ankle: luckily, it was just a sprain, but for two months I didn’t see the field.
“He apologised to me in every way, and I accepted them.”
Suso, De Jong, Bonaventura, Alex… we had some decent players during the banter era but the coaches were just awful- Inzaghi Mihajlovic Gattuso etc sheesh…
The version of Bonaventura prior to his injury would be a great fit next to Modric and Rabiot this season
Kind of unfair on Pippo. He was a first time coach. Every season he takes a Serie B job and seems to get promoted. He needs a proper chance with a decent Serie A club. Maybe he’s not going to be the next Pep, but there are far worse coaches.
More than one factor needs to click for a player to have a good career. Some were born with talents but not with a physical body that can handle the sport.
Speaking of wasted potential, anyone remember Gourcuff? Maybe SempreMilan can do a write up of all the flops and what happened to them after they left. (It’ll be a long list!)