Danny Drinkwater recalled how Chelsea tried to force him out at the end of a certain transfer window, claiming he was given just one hour to find a new club.
The midfielder started his career at Manchester United in 2009 but failed to make a senior appearance for the Red Devils. Instead, he enjoyed loan spells at the likes of Huddersfield, Cardiff, Watford and Barnsley. He made a permanent move to Leicester City in 2012 and won the Premier League under Claudio Ranieri during the 2015/16 season before signing a five-year contract with Chelsea for £35 million.
However, the 34-year-old's spell at Stamford Bridge has been incredibly rocky to say the least. He made just 12 appearances for the Blues in the 2017/2018 season as he fell out of favour, with the likes of N'Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas and even fellow flop Tiemoue Bakayoko preferred. However, when Maurizio Sarri took charge of the club following the sacking of Antonio Conte in July 2018, Drinkwater saw his relationship with the club truly collapse.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Drinkwater explained: “I would go to training knowing I wasn't playing, and sometimes not even training. It was so strange. Like, I'd go to training and I'd be doing fitness by myself while the guys were training, and I've never been in that position in my life, and I thought, 'what's going on here? This is so strange to me'.
“And it's like: 'the fuck? I'm here to play football, I'm not an athletics runner. Just put me on the field'. It was Sarri, a great guy by the way, and we got along well, it was so strange. We didn't get along, I just don't think we agreed. I don't know if it came from him, looking back on it now.”
Speaking about the end of the summer transfer window in 2018, Drinkwater revealed: “But you know, I was given an hour to find an English club, and I was like. So we had the meeting, he signed me in his office – this is about an hour before the window closes – and Gianfranco Zola is there, again a very nice guy. And we just talk for a while, and then he says, 'let's talk seriously' get over you playing time this season'.”
Confused by what he heard, Drinkwater said he responded, “Where is this coming from? I have an hour, what's going on? I just had a kid, I'm not going anywhere.” do you want me to?
“He said, 'well…', so I just walked away. It was difficult because I was in a position where, firstly, it was a surprise, and secondly, it went against what I wanted.
“'Do I just go to Italy or do I go to Spain in the competition? No man, my priority is my child, you have no chance. This has all changed now. I'm staying here, I'm settling here'.”
Rather than commit permanently to a new club, Drinkwater was loaned out to Burnley, Aston Villa, Kasimpasa and Reading before being released by his parent club in July 2022.
In October 2023, after not playing professional football for over a year, Drinkwater announced his retirement from the beautiful game.
Despite leading Chelsea to the 2018/19 Europa League title thanks to a 4-1 win over London rivals Arsenal in the final, Sarri's tenure at Chelsea was incredibly short-lived. He left Stamford Bridge at the end of the season to explore other avenues with Juventus.
Meanwhile, Drinkwater feels like he's wasted five years of his career with the Blues, telling Sky Sports in 2023: 'Yeah, it feels like 'what did you throw away those five years?' If you had stayed at Leicester, if you hadn't gotten injured and if the club had treated you differently.
“It's all ifs. It's frustrating, 100 percent. Don't think I'm still on fire about how it went. I'm still kicking myself for it. But on the other hand, I'm going to keep kicking myself hitting? Because I can't change it. Can I help myself in the future? That's why I went on loan, why I went to Aston Villa and Burnley, which didn't work out, and I went to Turkey at the age of 30. Never thought I would I do.
“It's also the reason I dropped to the championship. I tried to do the right things. While I was trying to do them, something went wrong.”
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