Less than five months after suffering a torn ACL against Swindon Town in the League Cup (just his fourth appearance and second start of the season), Marco van Ginkel returned to training on Thursday. Is that amazing or is that amazing? I think that's amazing.
"Just had my first training with the youth team," his caption reads. Amazing.
Marco went under the knife on September 26, exactly 140 days ago. The initial estimate ruled him out for six months, though most everybody assumed that would basically mean the whole season. We still have three months of the season left to go!
Obviously it'll take a couple more weeks at least for Van Ginkel to work back into any sort of match fitness and he'll probably take to the pitch first with the U21 side, but at this rate we may yet see him make a meaningful first-team impact even this season, not just the next. Chelsea look set to fight it out on at least two fronts, and a second successive unlikely victory at the Etihad isn't out of the question either. Adding another quality option into the midfield mix of Nemanja Matic (who is cup tied for the Champions League), Ramires, Mikel, Frank Lampard, and a part-time David Luiz can only help.