Since September, the Europa League's free transfer window is still open, and here we can always see some long-lost but familiar names, such as Marco Marin.
Last weekend, Marin signed with Hungary's Ferencvaros, the 12th club he has joined in his career and the 10th country he has traveled to, and he is currently only 32 years old.
If you think Marin is more than 32 years old, it's just because he became famous too early. Marin joined borealis Mönchengladbach at the age of 16, was awarded a professional contract at the age of 17, started his career at Borussia Mönchenglast at the age of 18, and scored a hat-trick for 16 minutes in the German Cup at the age of 19.
After two seasons at Borussia Moncheng, Marin made his first career transfer in 2009, with Werder Bremen signing him for €8.2 million. In his first two seasons with Bremen, Marin scored a single bundesliga goal, but he was able to deliver double-digit assists every season. With a height of 1.7 meters, he can play as a forward and winger, coupled with a rather agile style of play, the name of "German Messi" is not far away.
On the other hand, Marin's start to the national team was also smooth. As early as 2008, it attracted the attention of Loew and was selected for the 26-man squad for the European Championship. Although he missed the 23-man roster, Marin made his national team debut in a warm-up match against Belarus. In 2010, Loew decided to take him to the World Cup in South Africa and gave him a chance to play against Australia and Serbia.
In 2012, Marin welcomed another transfer, Chelsea paid 8 million euros to sign him, and this opportunity to step on the higher stage became a turning point in his career.
In the 2012-13 season, Marin made only 6 appearances in the Premier League, scoring one goal. In the 2013-14 season, he was loaned to Sevilla after struggling to adapt to the Premier League, and although he did not score in La Liga, he helped the team win the Europa League.
After returning to the Blues, Marin was still on loan, and in the 2014-15 season he was first loaned to Fiorentina, only to sit on the bench for half a season without a single Serie A appearance. In the winter window, he was again reloaned to Anderlecht, who also did not score in the first division due to injuries and other problems.
In the summer of 2015, Chelsea loaned him to Turkish Super League side Trabzon Sport, but he only delivered 2 goals and 4 assists in the Turkish Super League, and Trabzon Sport eventually gave up the buyout opportunity in the contract.
After several unsuccessful loan experiences, Marin ended his Blues career in 2016 with a move to Olympiacos for €3 million. Two seasons in the Greek Premier League did not save Marin's career, his value is still falling, in 2018 Olympiacos only charged 700,000 euros to sell him to Red Star Belgrade.
In fact, Marin also has Serbian citizenship, he was born in Gradiška, the former Yugoslavia, when his parents moved to Germany to escape the war. Later, the German Football Association took the lead and gave Marin the opportunity to play for the national team.
Marin joined coinciding with Red Star Belgrade's return to the Champions League, and in the Champions League group stage against Liverpool, Marin assisted Pavkov twice to score, taking Red Star's only victory in the group stage. In his second season, Marin followed Red Star to the Champions League qualifying tournament, scoring 1 goal and assisting 3 times in 8 games to help Red Star reach the Champions League again.
In his one and a half seasons in the Super League, he scored a total of 9 goals and assisted 14 times, and was selected to the best team in the 2018-19 Super League, which is also a little bit of a return. Jeddah nationals of the Saudi Premier League pulled out 2.2 million euros in the 2020 winter window and took away 31-year-old Marin with a contract of 6 million euros.
The West Asia Gold Rush took another turn for marin's career, with half a season at Jeddah Nationals going to nowhere. In the first half of the 2020-21 season, he also only scored 1 goal and 1 assist, and the Jeddah Nationals had to loan him to Al Ahli, but Marin was just as bad at Al Ahli.
This summer, Marin regained his free reins and eventually made it to the Hungarian league. "Messi of Germany" is a false name after all, what he has to do is to find his true self.