‘A joke’ – I won Premier League with Leicester but was given one hour by Chelsea to find new a club
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Danny Drinkwater was once given just an hour to leave Chelsea and led to a bust-up with the manager.
The Manchester United academy graduate most notably played for Leicester City in their 2015/16 Premier League title winning season.
Drinkwater featured alongside stars that included Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante to finish top despite their odds of 5000/1.
In September 2017, he made a £35million move to the then reigning champions Chelsea but faced a difficult spell in west London.
Maurizio Sarri joined as head coach a year later and had Drinkwater low in the pecking order, before advising him to leave at short notice.
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, Drinkwater reflected on the midfield competition at Chelsea upon the Italian boss’ arrival.
“Looking back actually, I remember Azpi [Cesar Azpilicueta] tried giving me the heads up about this when I was in that second season.
“So I was in there with Cesc [Fabregas] on that Sarri first pre-season, so it would’ve been me and Cesc I think, Kova [Mateo Kovacic] might have been there, and they were trying to bring Jorginho in.
“N’Golo was obviously there wasn’t he? So N’Golo, Cesc and me, I can’t remember if Kovacic was there at the time. But then Azpi’s like, ‘Drinks, if they bring Jorgi in, which they’re going to, they want to, you need to think about what you want to do here.'”
Drinkwater was then asked about how he previously revealed having an hour to leave Chelsea, and added more detail on the story.
“So Sarri’s English, again, when he came, wasn’t the best… That first window after that summer, it was like the last day of the window. My son was a year old here as well, so I’ve got stuff off the pitch that I’m focusing on as well.
“Zola came and saw me, and said, ‘Drinks, the gaffer would like to see you.’ So I was like, ‘Yeah, buzzing, sweet.’ Didn’t expect anything from it.
“I came up and he’s like, ‘I think you should go on loan.’ So I was like, ‘What? What time is it?’ I was like saying, ‘I’ve got an hour to get a club, what do you mean?’
“And he’s like, ‘No no, loads of like… I’ve got a Serie A team, loads of teams asking about you.’ [I’m] like, ‘Nah nah, I ain’t going out of England, are you mad?’
“Just had a baby, I’m a footballer but I’m a dad, I ain’t going anywhere. And he’s like, ‘Well, you might get frustrated.’ I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to get frustrated aren’t I? This is a joke.'”
Drinkwater made 22 appearances in his debut season at Chelsea and helped them win the FA Cup.
However, he featured just once during the entire 2018/19 campaign under Sarri, with the outing his last ever for the Blues first-team.
Loan moves to Burnley and Aston Villa came in the following season before returning to Chelsea and playing for their U23s.
Drinkwater signed with Kasimpasa S.K. for the second half of the 2020/21 season ahead of a final loan spell with Reading.
Chelsea then announced that he would leave the club in the summer of 2022 upon the expiration of his contract.
Just a year later, Drinkwater confirmed his retirement from football at the age of 33 when appearing on the High Performance podcast.
“Probably been a long time coming, maybe, especially with the last year. Now it’s time I think to officially announce it now.”
He added: “I think I’ve been in limbo for too long. I think I’ve either been kind of wanting to play, but not getting the opportunity to play at a standard or a level where I felt valued.
“And then you kind of wrestle with yourself for quite a while. I’ve had maybe three training camps on my own, and it’s not easy to find the motivation.
“Then you’ve got to try and keep match fit, which is almost impossible training, you need games, you need to be around the lads. You need constant training with a team.
“So I just thought, ‘I’m wrestling here for no reason. I’m happy not playing football, but I’m happy playing football, so do I just shake hands with the sport kind of thing?'”
