Words on Marin

It has been a difficult first season in English football for the little German with the difficulties to adapt to the English game mostly coming from a total lack of game time. Signed in the summer from Werder Bremen for a fee of about £7million, all looked promising for him. Chelsea lacked depth in the attacking midfield roles and the arrival of this young, pacey and exciting German prospect looked a good fit to the Chelsea squad. However, it has all not been a very fruitful time for the ‘German Messi’ despite all the promise.

Anyone who watched Chelsea in preseason could tell you that Marin had ability. Yes, I know he was up against Seattle Sounders and not Manchester City but he managed to outshine Eden Hazard for the most part, and also Kevin de Bruyne. It seemed like those 3 along with Juan Mata, would form an attacking midfield for Chelsea in the coming season until the board had other ideas. Oscar and Victor Moses were bought in and that seemed to cut off his path to the Blue’s starting eleven.

Then came the injuries. Many who follow German football knew about Marin’s injury record before he joined the club and knew that he was almost a gamble buy. Many hilarious journalists suggested we thought we’d signed the other Marko, the Reus one, but I can assure you, no matter how much you hate Emenalo, he isn’t that much of an idiot. Injuries prevented Marin from getting near the first team in the first few weeks with Bertrand filling in on the left until Oscar, Mata and Moses all joined the squad. Once Marin had failed to nail a starting place when the squad looked thin, this sealed his fate for the rest of the season.

He has currently only played 5 competitive games for the Blues and after slowly falling further and further down the pecking order to behind Bertrand and Benayoun, many are predicting a summer exit for him. With the club said to be extremely keen on bringing in another attacking midfielder in the form of Isco in the summer, and also with Kevin de Bruyne looking truly excellent in the Bundesliga, Marin could well be shipped in the summer and I can’t help but feel a little bit sad for the guy.

Marin was signed last season in a time where it was uncertain that we’d get Champions League football next season. The squad was in need of a pacey attacking midfielder with good dribbling and passing and Marko Marin was brought in as a cheap option in case the lack of Champions League football would have meant we missed out on our top targets Oscar and Hazard. Unfortunately for Marin, these players were brought in and his clear path to the first team was suddenly blocked in the form of some truly quality players.

With the arrivals of such talents in the summer, and with competition for places so high, Marko Marin needed to raise his game and I don’t think I’ve seen anything of him from his substitute appearances or starts in the Premier League to suggest he has raised his game or is deserving of a start like so many are saying. “Give him a chance” said many of you, and to be fair, he was given a chance and didn’t really perform when we needed him to. I feel bad for him with the lack of game time he has received and he seems a good player but I do rate Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Moses and possibly de Bruyne higher than I do Marin and because of that, I don’t see him fitting in the starting XI.

I have no inside connections to the Chelsea camp so I don’t know whether fitness issues or injuries have kept him out of the team but it could well have just been down to the fact that the board and management don’t think he’s up to scratch.

The summer represents an interesting dilemma which shall be solved by the use of a good poll at the end of this article. I’m all in favour of giving Marin a chance in the Premier League but probably not at Chelsea. I think that regular gametime for a Premier League club would do Marin a lot of good and would certainly be better for him that sat on our bench. I’m not really in favour of selling just yet because he is still young and has a lot of potential so judging someone after 1 year is a little difficult. With new management coming in the summer, he could well see a change in fortunes if the new manager takes a shine to him but at the moment we just don’t know and it is merely speculation.

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PS. here are some videos to show why this man was once claimed “The German Messi” but watch with caution, if you pay too much attention to some YouTube player videos you’d be fooled into thinking Jesper Gronkjaer should’ve won a Ballon D’Or and other silly stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflJfuzMsnU 

 Be sure to let your views and feedback known in the comments section below!