Despite the arrival of Nemanja Matic, Chelsea are still a little bit light on the central midfielder front. But there's good news on the way -- not a transfer this time but a return for a familiar face. Marco van Ginkel's ACL tear against Swindon in September was supposed to put him out for most of the rest of the season, but according to some recent quotes from De Telegraaf (via Voetball International) he's recovering faster than expected:

[My surgeon] had rarely seen such a speedy recovery. I am very well on track. I arrive at the club at nine o'clock, get treated, warm me up in the gym or the pool and then go to the physiotherapist on the field. Meanwhile, I can already turn back, reverse, cut, turn and shoot. Actually, I can do anything.

Note that this doesn't actually give any sort of timeline -- he's not going to be back within weeks, or anything -- but it's still promising news and if he can go through a full range of motion, as the quotes imply, he's not going to be that far off a return to light training.

Having van Ginkel back sooner than later could help address fitness concerns for the rest of the squad as we head into what looks set to be a fairly grueling run-in, and it'd be nice to see him get a chance to show us what he can do before summer. Losing a new signing, especially a youngster, so early in the season was pretty unfortunate, so it's really good to see that he's on the mend.