The Curious Case Of Danny Drinkwater

[ajthefox]

How anyone can think the only reason he left is money and not the draw of playing for a side regularly in the CL and competing for the league is beyond me.

[StriderHiryu]

He'll end up on loan at somewhere like Southampton / Newcastle / Brighton / Fulham / Huddersfield / Cardiff, and continue in that way until his contract is up at Chelsea. Chelsea won't play him, the loan clubs won't pay his wages, and his transfer fee will be too big.

 

I don't think Puel would want him given our style of play and it would block the route into the team for Hamza. Given that we are super unlikely to go down, it's better to use injuries and squad rotation to continue to give young players a chance in the team IMO. 

I do like Drinkwater, but he's not the future and I don't think he would significantly improve our team. Plus I expect we will loan out Silva in January so have to players off our books first before signing new ones.

[spacemunky]

I always felt that Chilwell and Drinkwater would be a good combo.

[Poznan34]

Bring him home! Quality player

[fuchsntf]

4 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

You've completely misunderstood my point - didn't even state that Drinkwater is on the same level. I just stated he achieved the same success as Kante/Mahrez (therefore 'deserved' a move) and he believed in his ability to join a big club. 

 

You are looking it with Leicester eyes if you think Vardy wouldn't have joined Manchester City or Chelsea or Liverpool when we won the league. 

I thought I'pool  made an  enquiry. Not forgetting other approaches may have been deliberately kept on the quiet side.

Not every club approach gets to the media...

[Nalis]

I'd take him back but not at 90k a week.

[surrifox]

6 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Some of you have no ****ing heart.  Danny was as much a part of the title win as anyone was.  I'd have any of them back.

How does scepticism about the wisdom of re-signing a £90k a week player  (plus a signing fee of at least £15-£20k  )equal having no heart ?

As I recall he feigned injury to get the transfer he wanted effectively blackmailing the club into signing an unsatisfactory replacement . He has a three contract on £90k pw to soothe his hurt feelings 

[CosbehFox]

Surprised so many posters seem to think Drinkwater is earning significantly more than he was at City.

 

We will paying £90k a week to players at the club now.  We are paying the going rate for English internationals - hence Chilwell and Maguire's deals. 

[Nalis]

20 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Surprised so many posters seem to think Drinkwater is earning significantly more than he was at City.

 

We will paying £90k a week to players at the club now.  We are paying the going rate for English internationals - hence Chilwell and Maguire's deals. 

Deinkwater would be in the bracket of former England international for me rather than current.

[KingsX]

Every time a DD thread pops up, I feel compelled to ask: have you seen him play lately?

 

I watched two appearances in friendlies this summer and in no way, shape or form did he appear a productive Premier League footballer.  He looked very far from the player he was just two years ago.

 

We can speculate how much of that player has been lost to injuries, and how much just to rust.  But I am here to tell you, he is not stepping into any decent side unless that rust can be removed.  And no intelligently managed club will pay (on Chelsea’s terms) for a huge risk.

 

He made a choice.  Now his salary is too far out of whack for a move to present itself.  If he wants to play regularly -- which he must know he needs, since he knew it at 21 -- he needs to move outside the PL, likely taking a wage hit to do it.

 

First world problems…

[ealingfox]

7 hours ago, ajthefox said:

How anyone can think the only reason he left is money and not the draw of playing for a side regularly in the CL and competing for the league is beyond me.

 

Playing?

[rachhere]

Well personally the whole thing makes me really sad - from several reports it seems he very quickly regretted his decision to leave. Interestingly there's a discussion on the general chat at the moment about changing jobs and lots of people talking about the importance of ambition... well... 

 

I wasn't actually that sad to see him go at the time as I thought we were getting a good deal out of it all, but the whole exchange with Silva coming in and Drinkwater going has just not worked out at all. I wouldn't mind him coming back on loan and seeing how it goes.

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, Nalis said:

Deinkwater would be in the bracket of former England international for me rather than current.

Smalling and Jones have been offered speculated deals of £120k per week. Which is a pretty good indicator of wages currently 

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, KingsX said:

Every time a DD thread pops up, I feel compelled to ask: have you seen him play lately?

 

I watched two appearances in friendlies this summer and in no way, shape or form did he appear a productive Premier League footballer.  He looked very far from the player he was just two years ago.

 

Friendlies and bit part games aren’t really a fair reflection of someone’s ability. 

[Fox92]

2 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Surprised so many posters seem to think Drinkwater is earning significantly more than he was at City.

 

We will paying £90k a week to players at the club now.  We are paying the going rate for English internationals - hence Chilwell and Maguire's deals. 

We're probably paying King abour 50k and he doesn't play.

[Max Wall]

50 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Smalling and Jones have been offered speculated deals of £120k per week. Which is a pretty good indicator of wages currently 

That's one of the funniest things I've ever read.

[KingsX]

2 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Friendlies and bit part games aren’t really a fair reflection of someone’s ability. 

I realize that (and was waiting for someone to point it out). 

 

But it's his only recent body of work.  And was an exercise in slow, sideways and backwards passing that would make the King-haters on here apoplectic.

[RonnieTodger]

Get the feeling he'd be damaged goods by now.

 

The thing is, when Mahrez and Kante left, we all knew that they'd make successes of their moves. Danny moved off the back of a mediocre 2016-17 season and joined up with Tiemoue Bakayoko, Cesc Fabregas and Ngolo Kante. At best he was going to be a squad player, and then January, when they signed Ross Barkley (with an impressive RLC out on loan), alarm bells should've been ringing. Instead he's somehow still there, not making any squads.

 

What a waste from everyone involved. Sure we got £35M, but we gave Sporting £50M+ for Slimani and Silva so we can't really laugh.

 

It's like when they signed Steve Sidwell.

Edited 23 November 2018 by RonnieTodger

[Captain...]

Sad for Danny, what a player he was for us in our two league wins, but it always felt like he was at his maximum capacity in those 2 seasons and he had spells of being average to poor. You can get away with that here, but not at a team with title and European ambitions every season and the spending capability to buy world class players in every position.

 

In many ways he is similar to Vardy, it is no surprise to me he has struggled at Chelsea in the same way I expect Vardy would have struggled if he’d moved to Arsenal. 

 

I can only wish him luck and that he gets a transfer in January. Anyone think he’ll end up on loan to Fulham under Ranieri?

[Nalis]

Drinkwater was always in that second bracket of our league winning stars, slightly above Albrighton but not even close to Mahrez, Kante or Vardy.

 

Cant really blame him for moving when he did. It was probably going to be his last shot at a top 6 team again and his stock was still high. He owes us nothing (people forget that football is just a job to a lot of players unless playing for a boyhood club or something), least he can say he tried but just wasnt good enough. Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure if we werent Leicester fans and in his shoes then most of us would probably have made the same move.

[Finnegan]

On 22/11/2018 at 17:09, KingsX said:

Every time a DD thread pops up, I feel compelled to ask: have you seen him play lately?

 

I watched two appearances in friendlies this summer and in no way, shape or form did he appear a productive Premier League footballer.  He looked very far from the player he was just two years ago.

 

We can speculate how much of that player has been lost to injuries, and how much just to rust.  But I am here to tell you, he is not stepping into any decent side unless that rust can be removed.  And no intelligently managed club will pay (on Chelsea’s terms) for a huge risk.

 

He made a choice.  Now his salary is too far out of whack for a move to present itself.  If he wants to play regularly -- which he must know he needs, since he knew it at 21 -- he needs to move outside the PL, likely taking a wage hit to do it.

 

First world problems…

 

Sorry but this is just wild hyperbole at best and bitter, abject stupidity at worst. 

 

Man just needs to get some form and fitness. You don't become a crap footballer overnight, he's more than capable of getting back to the player he was here. Does he need to drop down from the top four and probably take a slight pay cut? Yeah obviously. I'm sure he knows that. 

 

Does he need to drop down from the Prem? Give your head a wobble. He'll rock up at some Everton, Bournemouth, Leicester, Watford, Brighton or West Ham, start playing regularly and be fine again with some first team footy. 

[Stadt]

I'd love him back on loan, at the start of the season I'd have definitely not but he offers attributes or a combination of our attributes our other midfielders don't. 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

DD's brother is probably on the Chelsea forum right now trying to flog one of his match day suits. That was peak FoxesTalk. 

[matty98]

as much as I loved him while he was here, would it really work bringing him back? would he have the desire to work hard and try and improve after probably already achieving the most out of his career and failing to take the next step 

[KingsX]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

Sorry but this is just wild hyperbole at best and bitter, abject stupidity at worst. 

 

Man just needs to get some form and fitness. You don't become a crap footballer overnight, he's more than capable of getting back to the player he was here. Does he need to drop down from the top four and probably take a slight pay cut? Yeah obviously. I'm sure he knows that. 

 

Does he need to drop down from the Prem? Give your head a wobble. He'll rock up at some Everton, Bournemouth, Leicester, Watford, Brighton or West Ham, start playing regularly and be fine again with some first team footy. 

You are coming at this from the emotional perspective of a fan.  (Emotional enough to be abusive – but that being your style at times, knock yourself out.)  I was stating a view from actual observation – and the dispassionate perspective of potential acquiring clubs.

 

DD is a player with a history of missing time due to injury, whose recent work is minimal but unimpressive.  He didn’t “become a crap footballer overnight”.  He became an evidently limited footballer over a two year period marked by injuries.

 

You seem to be agreeing with my “bitter, abject stupidity” that he would have to knock a lot of rust off.  If you want to assume that age and injury haven’t reduced his peak abilities, fine.  I left that possibility open myself.  Because who knows?  Neither you nor me.  Nor any club that would consider taking him on.

 

If he has more to offer, why haven’t Chelsea put him on display in a Cup match?  He only made the bench once, v Derby, and didn’t get in.

 

I stand by every word I wrote, the way I wrote it.