Danny Drinkwater

[Special Juan 27,106]

Add Bakayoko into that too, he is total shite as well.

[bigbluewillie 1,808]

1 hour ago, Vybz Kartel said:

Next year is his final year, he signed a 4 year contract

Fuck i hope he plays well for Vila the rest of the season, then they can keep him

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Pretty sure they loaned him to give them numbers to cover John McGinn who picked up a 3 month injury a few weeks ago. If he does well maybe theyll keep him (hopefully)...

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

2 hours ago, Vybz Kartel said:

Next year is his final year, he signed a 4 year contract

Nope, till summer 2022.

[Jase 43,479]

https://theathletic.com/1516614/2020/01/07/danny-drinkwater-aston-villa-wages/

Danny Drinkwater jumped at the chance to join Aston Villa by agreeing to sign on loan for the rest of the season at the earliest available opportunity but the move still required a significant compromise over who paid his £110,000 a week wages.

The 29-year-old Chelsea midfielder spent the first half of the season at Burnley but activated a break clause that ensured the deal would end on January 6.

Drinkwater was aware of the interest from Villa and arrived at Bodymoor Heath just hours into January 7 to pass a medical and sign for the remainder of the campaign.

Wrapping up the deal was far from smooth, though. The Athleticunderstands that Chelsea were initially asking Villa to cover all of Drinkwater’s  £110k-a-week wages after Burnley paid £50k-a-week in salary contributions throughout the first half of the season.

After days of negotiating, it is understood that Chelsea relaxed their demands and a deal was struck.

Villa’s recruitment team believe it will be money well spent, regardless, as they see the middle man as an ideal replacement for John McGinn who is out for the next three months with an ankle injury.

Head coach Dean Smith held crunch transfer talks with Villa chief executive Christian Purslow and the technical director Jesus Garcia Pitarch last week and explained that he wanted players with Premier League experience to top up his squad.

Drinkwater was identified as the top midfield target and Villa are pleased to have got their man before the Premier League game with Manchester City on Sunday where he could make his debut.

Although he will play no part in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final with Leicester City at King Power Stadium, it is likely he will travel to watch his new team in action.

Drinkwater is still close with some members of the Leicester team after playing a big part in the title-winning season back in 2015-16 and the trip will give him the chance to get to know more about Villa.

It is understood that Smith was keen to bring him to the West Midlands to help toughen up a midfield that has lacked bite since McGinn was ruled out. The head coach met with Drinkwater and felt he would fit well into the dressing room and also add quality and knowhow to the central areas.

John Terry, Villa’s assistant manager, pushed for the move too having learnt more about the player from his close links with Chelsea.

Drinkwater’s lack of game-time isn’t a concern, either. Although he’s played less than 200 minutes over the past two seasons, Villa believe he can quickly get up to speed and start making an impact in their battle against the drop.

The former Manchester United academy player has been fit for the past seven weeks after a return from an injury sustained in a fight outside of a nightclub back in September, and coincidentally, was going to make a rare appearance off the bench when Burnley played Villa on New Year’s Day.

Instead, a consolation goal from Chris Wood in Villa’s 2-1 victory forced Clarets’ boss Sean Dyche into a re-think and Drinkwater didn’t get on.

Villa clearly left a lasting impression on him, though, as he said at his unveiling: “I watched the game and I was excited by the football in the first half, it looked like a team that you would like to play in.”

When Drinkwater heard about the interest, he quickly told Burnley that he wanted to leave. Dyche would have preferred to keep the three-time England international on board. He spoke publicly about liking him as a person and a professional, but Drinkwater was keen to get out and play regularly again after failing to break the midfield partnership of Ashley Westwood and Jack Cork at Turf Moor

Sources have told The Athletic how the midfielder’s lack of minutes in recent seasons has affected his focus and motivation levels at times.

The move to Villa has given him the boost that he needs, though, and Smith believes he’s ready to kickstart his career again.

“From meeting Danny I liked the hunger and he has a lot to go and prove,” said Villa’s head coach.

“It has not happened at Chelsea but we are going to give him an environment where he can go and flourish.”

The way he inspired Leicester to safety during their relegation scrap in 2014-15 was also one of the reasons Villa were keen.

Drinkwater wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and highlight areas that he felt needed improving during low points of the season.

It was, in fact, some of his suggestions that some people believe helped spark a late revival to keep the club in the division.

As Warren Joyce, the former Manchester United  reserve coach, who still keeps in touch with Drinkwater told The Athletic recently: “Drinky phoned me up and told me about Leicester’s struggles so I told him to tell the manager (Nigel Pearson) how he felt.

“(His views) shocked a few people but from that moment in time, they went from bottom of the league to winning the league the year after.

“It coincided with that meeting, 100 per cent.”

Smith actually likes that in his players and encourages every first-team member to be vocal during matches, training sessions and debriefs.

“Attitude is the biggest thing for me and I feel he will be a great addition to the dressing room,” he said.

Drinkwater’s arrival on loan means Villa will not be allowed to take another player on loan from Stamford Bridge. Olivier Giroud was a top striker target but Villa will now need to arrange a permanent deal to get him to the Midlands.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

3 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Nope, till summer 2022.

Im pretty sure he has a 4 year contract, unless he renewed recently he should be a free agent in summer 2021

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Vybz Kartel said:

Im pretty sure he has a 4 year contract, unless he renewed recently he should be a free agent in summer 2021

Nope, it was a 5-year contract.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2017/09/01/drinkwater-joins-chelsea

[Superblue 6,331]

Drinkwater is a good, solid Premier League player.

He's just not at Chelsea's level, simple as that.

You always hope that players can make that next step up, and he has simply failed to do so. His chance would have come in the middle of his first season when we had injuries and Bakayoko was struggling like crazy but Drinkwater was injured too then and once we had fully fit bodies in the midfield he was always going to be near the bottom of the list.

Hopefully he gets a run of games and plays well at Villa. He should be a good signing for them.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Nope, it was a 5-year contract.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2017/09/01/drinkwater-joins-chelsea

Damn I thought they gave him a 4 year. Thats crazy considering his age. Luiz and others who signed prior to turning 30 got 4 year contracts.

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Vybz Kartel said:

Damn I thought they gave him a 4 year. Thats crazy considering his age. Luiz and others who signed prior to turning 30 got 4 year contracts.

We signed Drinkwater when he was only 27, different to Luiz who was 29 when he came back and he signed only a 3-year deal. 

[Tomo 21,685]

45 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Drinkwater is a good, solid Premier League player.

He's just not at Chelsea's level, simple as that.

You always hope that players can make that next step up, and he has simply failed to do so. His chance would have come in the middle of his first season when we had injuries and Bakayoko was struggling like crazy but Drinkwater was injured too then and once we had fully fit bodies in the midfield he was always going to be near the bottom of the list.

Hopefully he gets a run of games and plays well at Villa. He should be a good signing for them.

I think if we continued the more solid shape first route after Conte he may have got another chance but even if he was a success he was always going to be in trouble once we moved to a more front foot based system.

He was always a quick transition based midfielder as opposed to a controller, ironically he (in peak condition) would probably suit United right now, his quick balls over the top to Rashford, Martial and James would cause havoc on the break.

[Superblue 6,331]

2 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I think if we continued the more solid shape first route after Conte he may have got another chance but even if he was a success he was always going to be in trouble once we moved to a more front foot based system.

He was always a quick transition based midfielder as opposed to a controller, ironically he (in peak condition) would probably suit United right now, his quick balls over the top to Rashford, Martial and James would cause havoc on the break.

I agree, whilst I wasn't blown away at the time and felt we overpaid, I thought the transfer would be a quiet success because he seemed the profile to suit a manager like Conte who seems to have a habit of getting something extra out of decent or good, but not great players. But I'm pretty sure he came in injured, and just never got a run or seemed fully fit in that season.

Once Sarri came in, it was clear that Drinkwater and Bakayoko were completely surplus to requirements.

[Vesper 27,387]

 

[bigbluewillie 1,808]

10 hours ago, Vybz Kartel said:

Damn I thought they gave him a 4 year. Thats crazy considering his age. Luiz and others who signed prior to turning 30 got 4 year contracts.

And really he\s on £110,000 a week, who the fuck signed him up for that?

Granny I suppose?

[Special Juan 27,106]

The biggest sign ever was we signed this guy that the people behind the scenes are so non football people.

People harp on about Marina getting insane prices for people but she was part of bringing fucking donkeys like this here and they are still around.

[Vesper 27,387]

14 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

The biggest sign ever was we signed this guy that the people behind the scenes are so non football people.

People harp on about Marina getting insane prices for people but she was part of bringing fucking donkeys like this here and they are still around.

Getting insane prices? She and the board have shit away damn near £300m with mis-timed sales and poor contractual management plus horrid non sales and then forced  and/or shit buys. That is just since 2016-17. If Hazard's bonuses shit out just he alone represents close to £100m in potential revenue loss versus a timely mega-sale. Granted he carried us last year bot one cannot say that if we have taken RM's £180m or wee bit more earlier we surely could have upgraded the squad to help replace his output.

And again, that is but one example. If Willian walks on a free and we do not sell Alonso either this January or in the summer, that is another close (or more depending on what we ultimately do get for a 30-something Alonso in the future if he doesn't leave in 2020) to £100m down the shitter versus the £110m in transfer fees combined for the two of them we turned down in summer 2018. We lost around £40-45m or so by not selling Cuntois in a timely fashion in summer 2017 when everyone in football with half a brain knew he was NOT going to renew. Then we had to panic buy Kepa after Alisson and Oblak said nope nope to us. In 2017 we could have gotten Alisson (I was pushing for him then even though he had only been Roma's backup and had plenty of other options in the 20m to 30m max range, as remember Ederson went that summer for 36m and people freaked out on his price, but RM would have coughed up 70 or 80m for Cuntois at that point, ZZ was going bonkers to get him) or another great keeper for pennies on the pound compared to the 2018 last month-pressurised market.

Just those things that I listed now add up damn close to £300m in losses if the final resolution of Alonso goes south and Eden's performance fails his bonus targets for the most part, and still well over £250m regardless. That figure doesn't even begin to touch the shit buys and OTT salaries and renewals, and crazy deals like the Higs loan. The Costa and Morata combined sales (we netted a £15m profit combined, as we made 25m on Costa and lost 10m on Morata) saved us at most a combined £25m to 35m quid or so versus a complete cockup (say no profit on Costa and double the loss on Morata at worst case). That is pocket change compared to negatives. 

 

[ZAPHOD2319 3,912]

Watching AV vs MC. First 27 minutes have been a nightmare for Danny. He has been involved in two terrible defences that resulted in goals. One that he should get an assist for passing it directly for the Man City goal. I was hoping he would have a good game.

[Vesper 27,387]

Danny Drinkwater produces contender for worst ever PL debut half for Aston Villa v Man City

https://www.givemesport.com/1537362-danny-drinkwater-endures-nightmare-debut-for-aston-villa-v-manchester-city?autoplay=on

Danny Drinkwater must wish he’d never left Leicester City for Chelsea back in 2017.

The England international played a key role in Leicester’s remarkable Premier League title triumph during the unforgettable 2015/16 campaign alongside fellow midfielder N’Golo Kante.

He went on to seal a £35 million move to Chelsea in the summer of 2017 - but this was the moment his career began to go into free-fall.

snip