Marco van Ginkel won the title with PSV Eindhoven in the 2017/18 season and after making his last appearance for the Dutch club in May 2018, the Chelsea player hasn’t had a minute of professional football.
The 27-year-old went under the knife to reconstruct his anterior cruciate ligament in July 2018 and was initially expected to be out of action for eight months.
One of the operations wasn’t done right and that led to complications, followed by an infection.
Van Ginkel signed a new contract with the Blues in June and Frank Lampard’s side allowed him to return to PSV on a season-long loan deal.
Eindhovens Dagblad had an opportunity to interview the Chelsea owned player and he opened up about the impact of the ‘botched knee operation and a painful and dangerous infection’.
“It hasn’t always been easy. Of course not. I don’t think it’s been healthy what I’ve been through either. After the wrong surgery, you can call everyone names, but what’s the point? It happened. I had to accept it,” Van Ginkel said.
“The infection after one of my surgeries was bad luck. I’ve been told that one in 200 people gets something like this. Some people then take antibiotics for two weeks and it’s over. With me, the situation affected the whole cruciate ligament.
“Mentally and physically it does something to you, but I didn’t need a mental coach for that. My girlfriend, parents, in-laws and friends have always been there for me. They’re great. That’s enough for me.”
The Dutchman also provided an update on his road to recovery as he hopes to feature for PSV this season.
“It’s really moving in the right direction. I feel good and have to keep the right balance. Three or four times a week I join the group now and I’m almost there,” he explained.
“The most important thing is to take the final steps in a responsible way in order to be able to cash in on the entire recovery process.”
“The training makes it clear how it all will go. At some point, I might play in an eleven against eleven. And then more. I am happy to be here and feel good. The staff and players may have largely changed, but otherwise almost everything is the same.”
