Earlier this year, former Chelsea player Marco van Ginkel announced his retirement from football.
This came just after a spell at Boavista, where he played 11 times in the Portuguese top-flight last season. His career also saw him play for clubs like AC Milan, Stoke City, PSV and Vitesse.
Considering that the Dutchman is only 33 years old, retirement has come early. He suffered long injuries several times in his career and these hindered his progress.
Van Ginkel has spoken now gazzetta dello sport About the decision to retire. The former Chelsea player has no regrets about how things turned out.
Van Ginkel talks Milan and Chelsea
Speaking with the newspaper the midfielder was asked specifically about his time with the Blues. He talked about being managed by Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.
He said: "I only trained in the summer with Antonio. He was a real force. I was the one who ran the most. Sarri was always smoking, but he gave you a lot of tactical advice."
The Dutchman had more to say about Mourinho, who helped him with advice at Chelsea.
"He called me in 2013 to bring me from Vitesse to Chelsea. He had a lot of respect for me, but it's a shame I tore my cruciate ligament at the beginning of the season. He gave me a lot of advice, both tactical and psychological. He was a natural tactician."
The Vitesse young graduate was asked if he had any regrets about how things turned out.
Van Ginkel said: "Not really, I accepted who I was. At 20 I played for Chelsea and the national team and at 33 I retired. Of course, without all those injuries I would have achieved more, but I never felt sorry for myself."
A career that was not planned
In his entire career, Van Ginkel played only two games for Chelsea. His best performances came at PSV, where he scored 34 times and assisted 14 times over two spells.
This also earned him a call to the Dutch national team.
Things could have been much better for Van Ginkel but he still made a career out of it. He played in four countries and even at Vitesse, he contributed 54 goals in 156 games in all competitions.
