Former Leicester And Chelsea Midfielder, Danny Drinkwater Announces Retirement

Former Leicester and Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater on Monday announced his retirement after admitting he had been “in limbo” too long.

Drinkwater was a regular in the Leicester side that stunningly won the Premier League in 2016 but he moved to Chelsea a year later.

He failed to establish himself at Stamford Bridge and was sent for unsuccessful loan spells at Burnley and Aston Villa as his off-pitch problems mounted.

The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to driving after crashing his car in 2019, suffered an ankle injury in an incident outside a nightclub later the same year, and head-butted Villa team-mate Jota in a training ground incident in 2020.

Drinkwater’s last appearances came on loan at Reading in 2021-22 and he had been without a club since his Chelsea contract expired at the end of that season.

Speaking on The High-Performance Podcast, he said: “It’s been a long time coming maybe, especially with the last year, but I think it’s time to officially announce it now.

“I think I’ve been in limbo for too long. I’ve been wanting to play but not getting the opportunity to play at a standard or a level where I felt valued.

“I’m happy not playing football but I’m happy playing football, so do I just shake hands with the sport?”

Capped three times by England, Drinkwater was a graduate of Manchester United’s youth academy but did not make a senior appearance for the Old Trafford club before joining Leicester in 2012.

“It’s all I’ve known. It’s been my life since I was six, or seven years old. It was never going to be an easy thing,” he said.

“If I was playing week in, week out and I had to say I’ve got to stop, maybe through injury or through just age, not being able to get about the pitch like I’d like to, I think it would be trickier.”