Drinkwater ‘in a different place’ than Burnley, Chelsea expected at start of loan

Danny Drinkwater has played 90 minutes of football so this season, Burnley’s loss to Sunderland in the second round of the League Cup, in which the Chelsea loanee was partially at fault for a game-changing goal as the Clarets crashed out from the competition at home.

In the meantime, Drinkwater has battled various injuries as well as off-field issues, all of which have meant that his only other appearance in a matchday squad for Sean Dyche was to be on the bench in their 3-0 loss to Liverpool at the end of August.

With Drinkwater’s loan expiring in January, it’s safe to say the chances of Burnley extending it are slim to none. Dyche isn’t completely ruling it out, but that’s just because he’s being diplomatic.

“We weren’t thinking it was going to transpire as it has done. That leaves it in a different place that it could have been if he’d been fit and well and either playing or figuring.

”We’ll figure that out as we go from here.”

Drinkwater is apparently still at least a couple weeks away from match fitness, so even if he gets a chance to figure for Burnley, it’ll be just to help him set up a potential move for the second half of the season — assuming we can find any takers.

“Drinky is getting fitter, his injury is just about right now. Now it’s going to be real fitness. He’s been joining in the training, adapting to that, he’ll probably need another week at least to join in regular training and the demands of that and then it’s games beyond that.

”He’s injury free at the current time and that gives him a more balanced situation to push on.”

-Sean Dyche; source: Lancs.Live

Drinkwater is only halfway through the five-year contract he signed with Chelsea in 2017. We’ll be dealing with this situation for a while yet!