New signing Marco van Ginkel cannot wait to get stuck into Chelsea’s pre-season having signed for the club late last week.
The Dutch international joined from Vitesse Arnhem on Friday, and will travel to Asia for the club’s Here to Play, Here to Stay tour this Thursday, which he believes will provide the perfect opportunity to get to know his new team-mates.
‘We have our first training at the beginning of the week and we then travel to Asia on Thursday. You spend every day with the new team-mates and I will be able to talk with every player,’ explained the 20-year-old midfielder. ‘It’s really good as a new player and I am sure they will help me.’
Such a tour will be new to the youngster, and he is yet to sample such incredible Asian support.
‘I’ve never been to Asia,’ he said. ‘It will be a new experience for me and I look forward to the trip. At Vitesse, most of the time we travelled to Germany or stayed in Holland for our pre-season.
‘In the winter break we would go to the sun but these were not tours, this is something else. It will be nice to go to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia because I never went there before.
‘I know what it is to be away for two weeks, with the Under-21 team we had three weeks this year in Israel at the European Championships. It is no problem, but I know these guys a little bit less so it will be a very useful trip.’
Tickets for our pre-season matches in Bangkok on 17 July, Kuala Lumpur on 21 July and Jakarta on 25 July are now on sale. Click on the city names for details.