Danny Drinkwater ‘buzzing’ to play football again after being without a club for a YEAR

Former Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater still believes he has something to give football, despite being a free agent for over a year. 

The 33-year-old has not played a competitive game of football since playing on loan for then Championship side Reading on April 30 2022, and has been without a club since being released by Chelsea last summer. 

However, Drinkwater, who boasts a Premier League winners medal and three England caps, is itching to get back playing football and thinks he can still offer something to the game. 

‘I want to be excited about a project’. He told SPORTbible. 

‘I’m just waiting for something to excite me. I need that burning feeling again. I’m sat here, twiddling my thumbs. I’m just buzzing to get involved again.’

Danny Drinkwater wants to start playing football again after a nightmare spell at Chelsea 

The midfielder hasn’t played a competitive game since appearing for Reading in April 2022 

Drinkwater was a key member of the Leicester team that won the Premier League title in 2016

It’s been 427 days since he last kicked a ball in anger, but he believed at the time that his loan spell with the Royals would kick-start his career and an offer from another big club. 

Yet, no move materialised and left the midfielder wondering what he had to do to get back to his previous heights. 

‘Towards the end of my time there, when I started picking up fitness, I thought, ‘I actually feel alright here. I’m starting to really help the team. I thought I’d done enough for a bigger club to come along and take a sniff. I thought someone might give me a shot to prove myself but it didn’t happen.

I actually remember thinking, ‘What’s happened to me? Have I fizzled out that much; to the point where a bigger team isn’t going to take me on a free?’ I always wanted to be a free agent at this age but now it’s come around… things are different.’ 

After failing to breakthrough at Manchester United as a young player, Drinkwater moved to Leicester in 2012 and would go on to be part of one of football’s biggest fairytale stories. 

Playing a key role as the Foxes were promoted to the top flight in 2014, pulled off a memorable great escape a year later, before topping it all by unbelievably winning the Premier League title under Claudio Ranieri in 2016. 

The success saw Drinkwater earn international recognition before a 2017 move to Chelsea. However, he would only make 23 appearances for the club in a five-year spell that has now tainted his career – something he says was down to a number of factors. 

The move to Stamford Bridge was meant to be the next big step in Drinkwater’s career 

The 33-year-old earned 3 England caps after his exploits for Leicester and their title win 

Loan spells with Aston Villa and Burnley (above) failed to get Drinkwater going again 

‘There are probably a few different things that come into that,’ he adds.

‘Chances being one. Injuries being another. I’d also say my lack of patience with it, to be honest. I wasn’t used to sitting around waiting for playing time. It wasn’t what I was about as a player. I did find myself in a place of frustration.

After that first year, I kind of had a gut feeling about where it was going.

When I first signed the contract, I bought a house down there within a month. That’s how much I wanted it to work. I was going to move the family down, the dogs and everything. I wanted to give it 100% but within the first season I was like, ‘Ah, something isn’t right here. This is messed up.’

Loan spells at Burnley, Aston Villa and at Turkish side Kasimpasa failed to rejuvenate Drinkwater’s career, and his frustration spilled into his life off the pitch, too. 

In 2019, Drinkwater banned from driving for 20 months and ordered to do 70 hours of community service, after crashing his Range Rover through a wall under the influence of alcohol – something he admits was a ‘wake-up call’. 

Fast forward to 2023, and the former Fox hasn’t ruled out a return to the club where he became a Premier League winner, especially following their relegation to the Championship. However, it may take some forgiveness from some fans, who complained about his departure from the club. 

‘When I left Leicester, some people called me a snake,’ he remembers. ‘To this day, people still say I shouldn’t have left. They point out that I’m not playing now but then some others say, ‘Come back and get us back into the Premier League’.

‘I would like to go back. I’d like to be a part of the story again, helping them get back to where they belong. When I’m fit, the quality is still there. If a team can get me to match fitness and flying again then I’ll be nothing but a benefit to that club. I’d also like to think I’m a big asset off the pitch.

‘If it’s something the Leicester fans want then they need to make more noise about it. Let’s see what happens.’