Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel felt he may never walk again.

Van Ginkel is currently on loan with PSV Eindhoven for the third time, where he is hoping to kick start his career.

The 28-year-old experienced an anterior cruciate ligament injury and went through with surgery in the summer of 2018.

Unfortunately, he got an infection during the procedure and had to get three more surgeries before the problem was resolved.

He was on antibiotics for three months and worried for his long term physical health.

He told Goal: "It was not 100 per cent, for sure. I think it was 50-50 whether my career would survive."

"The danger was there that I would lose my career, of course," Van Ginkel admitted.

"Especially after the first week of infection, they didn't know what the infection was doing inside the joint.

"After three months I reacted well, but it was going to be a tough, tough time to be at the top level again, to come back and play for PSV, Chelsea or whoever. At that moment, it was more about whether I could walk again. Football didn't matter.

"The infection that came six weeks after my operation killed my knee a bit. That's why it took so long, it damaged my knee and cruciate and I had to be operated on all over again. It was a very hard time.

"It was explained to me that these things could happen sometimes, but only to one in 200 people after surgery. It is very unlikely you get it, but some get an infection. I was one of them and it was quite bad.

"A normal infection requires only antibiotics and you are OK, but mine was quite bad so I was on antibiotics for three months. They had to clean my knee out a further three times through surgery. Those were very tough times.

"Emotionally and mentally, it was very hard. But I am a very positive person. I think everyone who knows me would say that and it kept me alive, for sure. But I can't deny that I had some difficult days."