Danny Drinkwater

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

4 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith accused of hanging Drinkwater out to dry

https://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/aston-villa/bent-smith-drinkwater-villans-watford

After Drinky was substituted Villa scored two goals in the last match. 

[Milan 17,836]

[Special Juan 27,106]

Just sack the bloke what a complete waste of air he is.

[Vesper 27,387]

5 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Just sack the bloke what a complete waste of air he is.

Fucking board. He will end up being a £60m plus loss.

Cunts

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

Something is seriously wrong with this dude. Earning money he don't deserves hit him in the head. 

Just release him. It's embarrassing to have him in the team. 

[bigbluewillie 1,808]

Just hope he don't end up back here, no fucker wants him, and understandably... he's a fucking disaster

[ZAPHOD2319 3,912]

After all of the stupid things he has done at the pub and now with a teammate, why can't his contract be voided for his conduct?

[Fulham Broadway 16,425]

He should live up to his name and just drink water

[bigbluewillie 1,808]

14 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

He should live up to his name and just drink water

This was at the training ground, so booze can't be the excuse surely, mind you he could start a piss up at the local AA meeting.

[Vesper 27,387]

Time is running out for Danny Drinkwater

https://theathletic.com/1680716/2020/03/18/drinkwater-danny-villa-leicester-chelsea-burnley-headbutt/

The tone of disbelief in the voice on the other end of the telephone is unmistakeable. “This just doesn’t tally with him. It’s like you’re describing someone else.”

One of Danny Drinkwater’s close friends at Chelsea has just been told by The Athletic about the midfielder headbutting Spaniard Jota during an Aston Villa training session, and is in a state of shock.

There have been many negative things said and written about Drinkwater since 2017 but the latest incident, which took place earlier this month, is a new nadir.

The England international is believed to have been fined but, before a decision was made to put the season on hold, Villa were considering cancelling his loan from Chelsea prematurely.

Even if the campaign is completed, there is a strong possibility Drinkwater will not play for Villa again. That means he will have started just 10 Premier League games over three years and one has to wonder if his career at the highest level is in doubt.

So how has it come to this? In 2016, Drinkwater was rightly celebrated as a vital cog in the Leicester City team that stunned the world by winning the Premier League. Now he is in danger of becoming more widely-renowned for scandals off the field. In the last 12 months he has also been charged for drink-driving after crashing his car last April and been in a fight outside a nightclub five months later.

It’s easy to form an unfavourable view of Drinkwater’s personality with the kind of headlines he’s been making but, as with many stories, there is more to it than that.

Former Leicester manager Nigel Pearson gave a little bit of insight back in 2014 as he presented Drinkwater with the club’s Player of the Season award, referring to him on stage as a “complex character”.

There was no talk of altercations with team-mates back then. Although, in training he was very intense and self-critical over any mistake he made. For example, if a pass was misplaced, he would berate himself and even punch himself in the face, much to the bemusement of watching team-mates.

Drinkwater had joined Leicester in 2012, but chose to remain living in the Manchester area. It’s where he was born and also where his football developed, having come through the academy ranks at Manchester United.

A desire to be close to family members has been a consistent concern throughout. One source suggests his tendency to withdraw from, or not make himself available for, England squads is because he didn’t want the stress of travelling and being away from home, especially if he wasn’t going to be playing.

Drinkwater earned all three of his caps in 2016, yet was left out of the Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad that summer and has never appeared under Gareth Southgate.

The real turning point in the 30-year-old’s professional life came at the end of the following campaign, when Chelsea made it clear they wanted to buy him in order to reunite the midfield partnership with fellow title winner N’Golo Kante.

Instead of being an upgrade, you could argue it was the beginning of the downturn. It didn’t help that the west London club overplayed their hand during negotiations.

Drinkwater made it clear he wanted to leave from the get-go, but this didn’t mean Leicester would sell their asset on the cheap. The asking price was firmly set at £35 million and yet bids of £18 million, £25 million and £27 million (plus add-ons) were made and swiftly rejected.

Increasingly, Drinkwater became more disruptive and handed in a transfer request to try to force a move. It is believed his actions upset several members of the club’s hierarchy and he had arguments with director of football Jon Rudkin towards the end. He was warned by others that his behaviour was out of order and could actually scupper his chances of joining Chelsea.

With the 2017-18 campaign already under way, Drinkwater found himself training with the youth team instead of the first team squad. But on deadline day, Chelsea decided to meet Leicester’s valuation at last.

Unlike Kante’s departure to Stamford Bridge a year earlier, the parting was not on good terms. It didn’t help that the situation was resolved too late for Leicester to sign Adrien Silva as his replacement.

As one Leicester source put it, the feeling was that while Kante had moved to Chelsea to further his career, Drinkwater had merely gone there for the higher salary of £120,000-per week. Drinkwater, though, said he moved to win more trophies. Any speculation regarding a return to the King Power Stadium since then has always been given short shrift.

When it came to making a big impact at Chelsea, a lot of damage was already done. Then-manager Antonio Conte was renowned for his tough training regime and demanded very high levels of fitness.

Drinkwater was an unused substitute for his first Chelsea game at, of all places, Leicester. One source has told The Athletic how Conte was warned by a member of the opposition staff after the match that his new signing was not in the best condition to play because of what had gone on over the previous two months.

In response, Conte arranged a special fitness programme and ordered the player to perform intense running drills. Within days he suffered a painful calf injury and his debut was delayed until October 25.

It was an uphill battle from then on to make Conte’s first choice side, although it should be pointed out he did start in some big games that season, including at Liverpool and Manchester City.

Drinkwater was a popular member of the group, noted for a rather cheeky sense of humour, but there was the issue of being on his own in a flat in Chelsea Harbour. It meant being away from the north west and in particular his young son, who lived with a former partner.

If 2017-18 didn’t go as planned, 2018-19 was a complete disaster. Maurizio Sarri replaced Conte as coach and made it clear to Drinkwater he wasn’t part of his plans.

Inquiries came during the transfer window from West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Southampton. Others from unnamed clubs abroad were also made, but the prospect of living further away from his family did not appeal. Overall, teams were scared off by Chelsea’s asking price in excess of the £35 million they paid and/or covering his wages, especially for someone who hadn’t been on the pitch that much.

So he was stuck. When Sarri informed Drinkwater he wouldn’t even be included in the Europa League squad, a message was enforced he wouldn’t be playing at all.

And so it proved. After playing for 30 minutes as a substitute against Manchester City in the Community Shield, Drinkwater didn’t make another appearance.

Even in training, he was largely ignored. A friend at Chelsea revealed: “In the latter part of the week, Sarri would only use the players that were (going to be) playing so Danny would sometimes be standing on his own to the side, left to his own devices.

“There was a small group who were in a similar situation and there was a bond between them. The fitness coach might take them off to do some running. They shared a sense of humour about it.

“You could see Danny still had quality on the ball when he did get a chance earlier in the week. But he coped with it well under the circumstances. He didn’t cause problems.”

Other people did hear him refer to Sarri in unflattering terms as he walked out for a session. When warned he might be overheard by the Italian, the former Manchester United trainee answered he didn’t care because his situation was set in stone anyway.

The drink-driving incident sparked more talk about what Drinkwater was getting up to in his private life. With no football to occupy him, going out had become more of a norm.

However, sources insist this shouldn’t be misconstrued as him having a drinking problem or being unprofessional. “He was a lad in his 20s,” as one friend put it. Another remarked that there were periods where no alcohol was consumed for “weeks”.

There were achievements off the pitch too, the most significant coming last March when he proudly opened his own restaurant in Manchester called Foodwell.

The chance to escape Chelsea two months earlier had been taken away. Cesc Fabregas was also keen to organise a transfer elsewhere and the club made it clear that only one of them would be let go. It was the Spaniard who got his wish, securing a switch to Monaco. But by setting up a new business, it showed Drinkwater was using some of his Chelsea fortune and spare time wisely.

A change of agent finally led to a change of scenery this season. New manager Frank Lampard involved him at the start of pre-season, yet was always going to prioritise promoting youth talent such as Mason Mount and Billy Gilmour, so a move elsewhere was inevitable.

Burnley made a bid to take him on an initial six-month loan with the view of extending it in January for the remainder of the season. The fact Chelsea agreed to pay £70,000-a-week of Drinkwater’s wages though showed just what kind of price had to be paid just for him to find a new team.

It was always going to take time for him to match the physical levels of his new team-mates, but those close to the club suggest that he fitted in well and there were no problems with the Burnley players. A full 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup against Sunderland, albeit in a 3-1 defeat, was promising.

But the nightclub incident, in which he sustained ankle ligament damage as well as bruising to his face, came just a few days later. It was a setback he never recovered from.

Drinkwater, who had been regarded as a positive influence in the dressing room up to then, made a point of speaking to the squad and acknowledged he had made a mistake. That was well received but there was just one more outing for Burnley after that: his first Premier League appearance for 21 months was not one to remember, as Manchester City won 4-1.

Tellingly, Burnley team-mate Erik Pieters spoke positively about Drinkwater afterwards: “It takes time, but that’s normal. He didn’t play for a while, but he’s looking good, he’s feeling well. He’s a great guy, he’s funny. He fits perfectly.”

Sources suggest it was Drinkwater’s decision to cut short his loan at Burnley because he wanted more game time — another sign that he wasn’t just content to just pick up a pay cheque.

That is when Villa came calling. From manager Dean Smith, to assistant and former Chelsea defender John Terry to those in the hierarchy, Drinkwater’s experience was regarded as an asset in their relegation battle.

Only four starts, in which he has been subbed all four times, have followed, though. The first came in a humiliating 6-1 reverse at home to Manchester City and the last was over a month ago.

One can only guess what was in his mind when he squared up to Jota during a six-a-side game, but perhaps all the frustration of what he’s been through over the last three seasons came to the surface.

Who knows what will happen next? There are still two years left on his Chelsea contract, yet there is little chance of forcing his way back into contention there.

But following two disappointing loans this season, both overshadowed by controversy, there won’t be many clubs queuing up to buy or borrow him either.

Drinkwater can still turn things around, but time is beginning to run out.

[Jase 43,479]

5 hours ago, Vesper said:

Time is running out for Danny Drinkwater

https://theathletic.com/1680716/2020/03/18/drinkwater-danny-villa-leicester-chelsea-burnley-headbutt/

The tone of disbelief in the voice on the other end of the telephone is unmistakeable. “This just doesn’t tally with him. It’s like you’re describing someone else.”

One of Danny Drinkwater’s close friends at Chelsea has just been told by The Athletic about the midfielder headbutting Spaniard Jota during an Aston Villa training session, and is in a state of shock.

There have been many negative things said and written about Drinkwater since 2017 but the latest incident, which took place earlier this month, is a new nadir.

The England international is believed to have been fined but, before a decision was made to put the season on hold, Villa were considering cancelling his loan from Chelsea prematurely.

Even if the campaign is completed, there is a strong possibility Drinkwater will not play for Villa again. That means he will have started just 10 Premier League games over three years and one has to wonder if his career at the highest level is in doubt.

So how has it come to this? In 2016, Drinkwater was rightly celebrated as a vital cog in the Leicester City team that stunned the world by winning the Premier League. Now he is in danger of becoming more widely-renowned for scandals off the field. In the last 12 months he has also been charged for drink-driving after crashing his car last April and been in a fight outside a nightclub five months later.

It’s easy to form an unfavourable view of Drinkwater’s personality with the kind of headlines he’s been making but, as with many stories, there is more to it than that.

Former Leicester manager Nigel Pearson gave a little bit of insight back in 2014 as he presented Drinkwater with the club’s Player of the Season award, referring to him on stage as a “complex character”.

There was no talk of altercations with team-mates back then. Although, in training he was very intense and self-critical over any mistake he made. For example, if a pass was misplaced, he would berate himself and even punch himself in the face, much to the bemusement of watching team-mates.

Drinkwater had joined Leicester in 2012, but chose to remain living in the Manchester area. It’s where he was born and also where his football developed, having come through the academy ranks at Manchester United.

A desire to be close to family members has been a consistent concern throughout. One source suggests his tendency to withdraw from, or not make himself available for, England squads is because he didn’t want the stress of travelling and being away from home, especially if he wasn’t going to be playing.

Drinkwater earned all three of his caps in 2016, yet was left out of the Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad that summer and has never appeared under Gareth Southgate.

The real turning point in the 30-year-old’s professional life came at the end of the following campaign, when Chelsea made it clear they wanted to buy him in order to reunite the midfield partnership with fellow title winner N’Golo Kante.

Instead of being an upgrade, you could argue it was the beginning of the downturn. It didn’t help that the west London club overplayed their hand during negotiations.

Drinkwater made it clear he wanted to leave from the get-go, but this didn’t mean Leicester would sell their asset on the cheap. The asking price was firmly set at £35 million and yet bids of £18 million, £25 million and £27 million (plus add-ons) were made and swiftly rejected.

Increasingly, Drinkwater became more disruptive and handed in a transfer request to try to force a move. It is believed his actions upset several members of the club’s hierarchy and he had arguments with director of football Jon Rudkin towards the end. He was warned by others that his behaviour was out of order and could actually scupper his chances of joining Chelsea.

With the 2017-18 campaign already under way, Drinkwater found himself training with the youth team instead of the first team squad. But on deadline day, Chelsea decided to meet Leicester’s valuation at last.

Unlike Kante’s departure to Stamford Bridge a year earlier, the parting was not on good terms. It didn’t help that the situation was resolved too late for Leicester to sign Adrien Silva as his replacement.

As one Leicester source put it, the feeling was that while Kante had moved to Chelsea to further his career, Drinkwater had merely gone there for the higher salary of £120,000-per week. Drinkwater, though, said he moved to win more trophies. Any speculation regarding a return to the King Power Stadium since then has always been given short shrift.

When it came to making a big impact at Chelsea, a lot of damage was already done. Then-manager Antonio Conte was renowned for his tough training regime and demanded very high levels of fitness.

Drinkwater was an unused substitute for his first Chelsea game at, of all places, Leicester. One source has told The Athletic how Conte was warned by a member of the opposition staff after the match that his new signing was not in the best condition to play because of what had gone on over the previous two months.

In response, Conte arranged a special fitness programme and ordered the player to perform intense running drills. Within days he suffered a painful calf injury and his debut was delayed until October 25.

It was an uphill battle from then on to make Conte’s first choice side, although it should be pointed out he did start in some big games that season, including at Liverpool and Manchester City.

Drinkwater was a popular member of the group, noted for a rather cheeky sense of humour, but there was the issue of being on his own in a flat in Chelsea Harbour. It meant being away from the north west and in particular his young son, who lived with a former partner.

If 2017-18 didn’t go as planned, 2018-19 was a complete disaster. Maurizio Sarri replaced Conte as coach and made it clear to Drinkwater he wasn’t part of his plans.

Inquiries came during the transfer window from West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Southampton. Others from unnamed clubs abroad were also made, but the prospect of living further away from his family did not appeal. Overall, teams were scared off by Chelsea’s asking price in excess of the £35 million they paid and/or covering his wages, especially for someone who hadn’t been on the pitch that much.

So he was stuck. When Sarri informed Drinkwater he wouldn’t even be included in the Europa League squad, a message was enforced he wouldn’t be playing at all.

And so it proved. After playing for 30 minutes as a substitute against Manchester City in the Community Shield, Drinkwater didn’t make another appearance.

Even in training, he was largely ignored. A friend at Chelsea revealed: “In the latter part of the week, Sarri would only use the players that were (going to be) playing so Danny would sometimes be standing on his own to the side, left to his own devices.

“There was a small group who were in a similar situation and there was a bond between them. The fitness coach might take them off to do some running. They shared a sense of humour about it.

“You could see Danny still had quality on the ball when he did get a chance earlier in the week. But he coped with it well under the circumstances. He didn’t cause problems.”

Other people did hear him refer to Sarri in unflattering terms as he walked out for a session. When warned he might be overheard by the Italian, the former Manchester United trainee answered he didn’t care because his situation was set in stone anyway.

The drink-driving incident sparked more talk about what Drinkwater was getting up to in his private life. With no football to occupy him, going out had become more of a norm.

However, sources insist this shouldn’t be misconstrued as him having a drinking problem or being unprofessional. “He was a lad in his 20s,” as one friend put it. Another remarked that there were periods where no alcohol was consumed for “weeks”.

There were achievements off the pitch too, the most significant coming last March when he proudly opened his own restaurant in Manchester called Foodwell.

The chance to escape Chelsea two months earlier had been taken away. Cesc Fabregas was also keen to organise a transfer elsewhere and the club made it clear that only one of them would be let go. It was the Spaniard who got his wish, securing a switch to Monaco. But by setting up a new business, it showed Drinkwater was using some of his Chelsea fortune and spare time wisely.

A change of agent finally led to a change of scenery this season. New manager Frank Lampard involved him at the start of pre-season, yet was always going to prioritise promoting youth talent such as Mason Mount and Billy Gilmour, so a move elsewhere was inevitable.

Burnley made a bid to take him on an initial six-month loan with the view of extending it in January for the remainder of the season. The fact Chelsea agreed to pay £70,000-a-week of Drinkwater’s wages though showed just what kind of price had to be paid just for him to find a new team.

It was always going to take time for him to match the physical levels of his new team-mates, but those close to the club suggest that he fitted in well and there were no problems with the Burnley players. A full 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup against Sunderland, albeit in a 3-1 defeat, was promising.

But the nightclub incident, in which he sustained ankle ligament damage as well as bruising to his face, came just a few days later. It was a setback he never recovered from.

Drinkwater, who had been regarded as a positive influence in the dressing room up to then, made a point of speaking to the squad and acknowledged he had made a mistake. That was well received but there was just one more outing for Burnley after that: his first Premier League appearance for 21 months was not one to remember, as Manchester City won 4-1.

Tellingly, Burnley team-mate Erik Pieters spoke positively about Drinkwater afterwards: “It takes time, but that’s normal. He didn’t play for a while, but he’s looking good, he’s feeling well. He’s a great guy, he’s funny. He fits perfectly.”

Sources suggest it was Drinkwater’s decision to cut short his loan at Burnley because he wanted more game time — another sign that he wasn’t just content to just pick up a pay cheque.

That is when Villa came calling. From manager Dean Smith, to assistant and former Chelsea defender John Terry to those in the hierarchy, Drinkwater’s experience was regarded as an asset in their relegation battle.

Only four starts, in which he has been subbed all four times, have followed, though. The first came in a humiliating 6-1 reverse at home to Manchester City and the last was over a month ago.

One can only guess what was in his mind when he squared up to Jota during a six-a-side game, but perhaps all the frustration of what he’s been through over the last three seasons came to the surface.

Who knows what will happen next? There are still two years left on his Chelsea contract, yet there is little chance of forcing his way back into contention there.

But following two disappointing loans this season, both overshadowed by controversy, there won’t be many clubs queuing up to buy or borrow him either.

Drinkwater can still turn things around, but time is beginning to run out.

You know The Athletic are running out of topics to write at this point of time when there's something like this on Drinkwater and FIVE writers contributed to the piece!

[Vesper 27,387]

6 minutes ago, Jason said:

You know The Athletic are running out of topics to write at this point of time when there's something like this on Drinkwater and FIVE writers contributed to the piece!

I know!!

and I just renewed my subscription a month ago or so!!

GRRRR

at least all you can read their stuffs here

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I know!!

and I just renewed my subscription a month ago or so!!

GRRRR

at least all you can read their stuffs here

I subscribe to it too. So, I don't care.  

[Vesper 27,387]

15 minutes ago, Jason said:

I subscribe to it too. So, I don't care.  

It is a great site, first sports only one I ever subscribed to.

I subscribe to a shit tonne of financial and political and news papers.

I also subscribe to The Private Eye via an overseas physical subscription (they do not have much online content)

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8184359/Danny-Drinkwaters-FoodWell-restaurant-loses-nearly-2m-12-months.html

Danny Drinkwater's FoodWell restaurant loses nearly £2MILLION in its first 12 months and could face further losses after shutting amid coronavirus crisis as midfielder's nightmare continues

This is what happens when idiot tries to run a business. 

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

Not even on Villa bench since restart. 

Still 2 more years on contract 

Next step Championship with Chelsea paying 70% of his salary.

[Puliiszola 519]

21 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Not even on Villa bench since restart. 

Still 2 more years on contract 

Next step Championship with Chelsea paying 70% of his salary.

Piazon, kepa, Drinkwater. That's 3 22+ players that would be on loan. 

Only got 3 more slots to fill