Danny Drinkwater's disastrous spell at Chelsea comes to an end

Cameron Smith

10 Jun 2022 12:04 CDT
3 min read

Chelsea have confirmed midfielder Danny Drinkwater has left the club following the expiration of his contract this June.

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The news signals the end of a five-year spell that yielded just 23 appearances and only one more Premier League start than loan moves away.

For a player who cost Chelsea €41 million (£35m), it hasn't worked out one bit.

Signed after a stellar stint at Leicester, Drinkwater was purchased as the Blues looked to deal with the loss of Nemanja Matic to Manchester United.

The Serbian had been the fulcrum of the Chelsea midfield, and his partnership with N'Golo Kante helped deliver the league title back to Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2010 when Antonio Conte masterminded the 2016/17 triumph.

Drinkwater's own partnership with Kante at Leicester played a crucial role in the Foxes' unlikely Premier League title in 2016, and that undoubtedly played on the minds of the Chelsea hierarchy when landing him on summer deadline day after assessing the options to replace Matic.

However, he mustered just 12 league appearances and five starts in his first campaign at Stamford Bridge, and Drinkwater's final game for the senior team came as early as the 2017/18 Community Shield final.

Loan moves to Burnley and Aston Villa didn't improve Drinkwwater's fortunes either, with the midfielder playing a combined six times for the two clubs across the 2019/20 campaign.

The Englishman, who has three national team caps to his name, enjoyed slightly more success in Turkey on loan at Kasimpasa in the second half of the following season, after spending the first six months in Chelsea's U23 squad.

During his final year at Chelsea, Drinkwater spent the entirety of it on loan at Championship side Reading, making 34 appearances in all competitions.

The figure spent on Drinkwater

All this time, Drinkwater has been earning roughly €130,000 per week, with Chelsea even forking out the vast majority of that figure during his time away from the club.

That's more than Thiago Silva, Reece James, Mason Mount and Edouard Mendy earn at the club, and more than Antonio Rudiger was on before he also left this summer.

Without even including his wages and taking only his transfer fee into consideration, Drinkwater cost Chelsea a whopping €34,690 (£29,635) per minute spent on the field. Add his huge wages into the equation and the Blues have spent a ridiculous amount of money on a player never good enough to cut the grade at the club.

Although loan clubs may have funded some of Drinkwater's wages, if they didn't contribute then Chelsea would've spent a total of €74.8m on a player with just five Premier League starts for the club.