Having joined Chelsea only in the last summer, midfielder Danny Drinkwater is pondering over leaving the club at the end of the season.
Chelsea could be set to lose midfielder Danny Drinkwater in the summer, as the 28-year old is seriously contemplating leaving the club, if a report from the Guardian is to be believed.
The former Manchester United academy graduate joined the Blues on the deadline day of the 2017 summer transfer window from Leicester City, for a fee of £35 million. Drinkwater signed a five-year contract with the West Londoners, that runs till the summer of 2022.
However, he is considering calling it time on his spell at the Stamford Bridge, after growing disillusioned with the amount of game time he is getting.
The midfielder was brought in by Chelsea, following the departure of mainstay Nemanja Matic to Manchester United, with the hope of recreating the N’Golo Kante – Drinkwater partnership, that had fired Leicester City to a Premier League title back in the 2015/16 season.
But things were off to a very bad start for Drinkwater as he picked up a calf injury soon after his arrival that kept him out of action till the end of October last year. Ever since, the England international has been in and out of Antonio Conte’s team, with niggling injuries and illness issues never really allowing him an opportunity to stake a claim for a regular berth in the starting XI.
Till date, Drinkwater has played only 22 times for Chelsea, out of which only five have been starts in the Premier League. His last appearance came in the defeat at Manchester City more than five weeks ago. And this has led to him getting dropped out of contention for the England national team that will travel to Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the summer.
Frustrated with his current plight, Drinkwater is considering about departing from Chelsea in the summer, but is prepared to wait till there is a clarity on the managerial situation at the club. Conte’s exit looks more and more likely with every passing day with tensions between the Italian and the board continuing to rise.
The former Juventus and Italy manager has been constantly criticizing the club’s transfer policy throughout the season, hinting that the players that were brought in were not all his preferences, possibly indicating as to why Drinkwater hasn’t been involved regularly.
Despite the uncertainties surrounding the manager, Chelsea are already chalking out transfer plans for the upcoming campaign and have reportedly identified OGC Nice midfielder Jean-Michael Seri as a top transfer target to strengthen their options in the midfield.
If the Ivory Coast international arrives at the Stamford Bridge, Drinkwater’s game time will take a further hit, given that he is already behind the likes of Kante, Cesc Fabregas and Tiemoue Bakayoko in the pecking order.
Taking in all factors in play, one would think that the best possible option for Drinkwater at the moment, would be to leave Chelsea at the end of the season and move to a team where he would be getting more playing time.
