Once deemed one of the brightest prospects in the Bundesliga, this irrepressible little left winger earned himself recognition as the "German Messi".

Marin joined up with Eintracht Frankfurt as a youngster and moved on to the Borussia Monchengladbach youth academy in 2005, making his debut in 2007, before moving to Werder Bremen in 2009 in an £8 million deal.

There, he struck up an impressive partnership with Mesut Ozil, and represented Germany at the 2010 World Cup, but he has since struggled with form and injuries.

He agreed a reported £6.5 million move to Chelsea before the end of the 2011-12 campaign in a bid to kick-start his career in a new environment.

Strengths: A talented and inventive winger, he is blessed with great pace and his dribbling skills are top class, while he is also a very capable finisher.

Weaknesses: His tackling and aerial ability are not his strong points.

Career high: Making his World Cup bow for Germany in 2010 after an excellent campaign with Werder Bremen.

Career low: Suffering a career slump after the World Cup, Marin made only 18 starts in the 2011-12 campaign.

Style: A skilful and diminutive playmaker or winger with extraordinary levels of off-the-cuff invention.

Quotes: "It wasn't a surprise for me that Chelsea came in for me because all over the years there were a lot of big clubs interested in me. This time I thought it was the right step to go to England. It was a logical step" Marko Marin, July 2012

Trivia: Marin was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina but fled the country with his parents at the age of two when civil war flared in the Balkans, and the family settled in Frankfurt.