What Happened to Danny Drinkwater Footballer's Career After Chelsea?
I still remember watching Danny Drinkwater lift the Premier League trophy with Leicester City in 2016 - what a remarkable underdog story that was. The midfield dynamo had just completed one of football's most incredible fairytales, forming that formidable partnership with N'Golo Kanté that propelled the Foxes to unimaginable glory. Fast forward to today, and it's almost heartbreaking to contrast that triumphant image with where his career ultimately landed. When Chelsea paid £35 million for him in 2017, it seemed like the natural progression for an England international at his peak. Little did we know this transfer would become one of the most dramatic career downward spirals in recent football memory.
What fascinates me about Drinkwater's story isn't just the decline itself, but how spectacularly public it became. After making just 12 Premier League appearances for Chelsea in his first season, he essentially became a forgotten man at Stamford Bridge. The loan spells that followed read like a tour of football's purgatory - Burnley, Aston Villa, Kasımpaşa in Turkey, and finally Reading. I've followed many football careers, but rarely have I seen someone fall so completely out of top-level contention while still in their supposed prime years. His last professional appearance came in April 2023 for Reading, and since his contract expired last summer, the 34-year-old has been without a club. It's the kind of career trajectory that makes you wonder about the psychological impact of going from Premier League champion to football nomad within just a few seasons.
The personal struggles certainly didn't help his case. His well-documented off-field issues, including that nightclub incident in 2019 and a drunk driving ban, seemed to cement the narrative of a talent derailed. I've always believed that footballers are human beings first, athletes second, and Drinkwater's story reinforces how mental health and personal stability are crucial for sustained performance at the highest level. In his own words during various interviews, he admitted to struggling with the pressure and expectations at Chelsea, something I think many players experience but few openly discuss.
While Drinkwater's career was winding down in England, an interesting parallel was unfolding in Philippine basketball that caught my attention. On May 21, the defending champions travel to Ynares Center in Antipolo to take on Blackwater and then battles NLEX on the 24th at the Philsports Arena. This scheduling quirk reminds me of how quickly sports narratives can change - today's champions can become tomorrow's strugglers, whether in English football or Philippine basketball. The relentless march of professional sports waits for no one, and Drinkwater's experience shows how quickly a player can go from essential to expendable.
What strikes me most about Drinkwater's post-Chelsea journey is the sheer number of what-ifs. What if he had joined a different club after Leicester? What if he had received more consistent playing time? What if his off-field life had remained stable? These are the questions that haunt many football careers, and they certainly apply here. His technical ability was never in doubt - that incredible long-range passing and tactical intelligence were what made him so valuable during Leicester's title run. Yet modern football, with its insane physical demands and constant scrutiny, often leaves little room for second acts.
I can't help but feel there's a cautionary tale here about career choices in football. The move to Chelsea, while financially rewarding and prestigious on paper, ultimately stalled his momentum at the worst possible time. At 27, he should have been entering his peak years, but instead found himself buried in the depth chart at a club undergoing constant managerial changes. Having watched countless talents make similar missteps, I've come to believe that finding the right fit matters more than chasing the biggest club or paycheck.
The statistics tell their own stark story - from making 35 appearances in Leicester's title-winning season to just 23 total matches across all competitions in the six years since leaving the King Power Stadium. That's a decline of almost 85% in playing time, numbers that barely capture the human cost of such a dramatic fall from grace. His last goal in professional football came back in 2017, a lifetime ago in athletic terms.
As I reflect on Drinkwater's journey, I'm reminded that football careers are fragile things, built on timing, opportunity, and often luck as much as talent. While we're currently watching similar stories unfold in other sports - like those PBA teams battling it out in Antipolo and Pasig - Drinkwater's serves as a particularly poignant example of how quickly fortunes can change. His legacy, ironically, might ultimately be as a warning about the importance of career management in modern football rather than for that glorious title-winning season. And that, to me, seems like the real tragedy of his story.