'It's been a shambles' - What happened to Drinkwater at Chelsea?
Robin Bairner
- 20 Sept 2021 19:46 BST
- 5 min read
When Danny Drinkwater left Leicester in 2017 to sign for Chelsea, he did so on a high, having been crowned a Premier League champion a year previous and in such form that the Blues paid £35 million for his services.
Drinkwater’s move to Stamford Bridge turned into a nightmare, however.
His first season with Chelsea brought only 12 league appearances, yet that proved to be a high point. A year later, he was restricted to a solitary outing for the first team.
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Since then, he has joined Chelsea’s extensive loan army but struggled to make an impression at Burnley, Aston Villa or even Kasimpasa in Turkey, where he spent last season.
Now he finds himself at Reading in the Championship, but this was neither the plan from the player of the club.
What has Drinkwater said?
Drinkwater himself admits that the move has been a disaster.
Speaking to Talksport, he said: “Can I paint a picture? No. It’s been a shambles.
“It’s football, it’s never straightforward, it’s never simple. I’m just excited for the new challenges. I need to [kick-start my career]. I’m more excited about this than I have been for a few years now, especially how my career’s panned out.
“Games, getting the enjoyment of football back, then going from there. A few have slid away, I’ve made mistakes, I’ve not played.
“I’m in the last year of my contract, so there’s more than just football riding on it. I’ve got other things.”
What went wrong?
Drinkwater has had a string of off-field issues since moving to Chelsea, including a ban for driving and a being involved in a violent incident at a nightclub. He also headbutted team-mate Jota while at Aston Villa.
“I told myself that I needed to clean myself up big time. I must have taken a good look at myself s*** loads of times,” he told the Telegraph in 2020.
I had a wake up call after the drink driving, another wake up call after the nightclub and then another wake up call after the incident at Villa. Then it’s like, this has got to stop.
- Danny Drinkwater“I had a wake up call after the drink driving, another wake up call after the nightclub and then another wake up call after the incident at Villa. Then it’s like, this has got to stop.
“Drink driving, I’ve not driven since, because I can’t, the nightclub incident, I’ve not really been in an English nightclub since and I don’t plan to and I definitely can’t put myself in the situation to fight with a team-mate again.”
In addition to these problems, he has also battled injury and loss of form.
