Aston Villa want Danny Drinkwater to stay through end of season

Danny Drinkwater has been a bit of a lost soul the last couple years as his Chelsea career kept dropping to new lows, but it sounds like that for the rest of this season at least, he will get a chance to impress and try to resurrect his football career.

The now 30-year-old midfielder has been trying his luck on loan with Aston Villa since January, but despite a couple hiccups including a headbutt and pandemic, he’s set to stay for at least the rest of this season.

As confirmed by Villa boss Dean Smith, the Villans are looking to extent Drinkwater’s loan deal until the (new) end of the season.

“I don’t think [the loan extension] has to be done until the end of June so that will be with Suso (sporting director) and the secretary to sort out.

“I am keen for both [Drinkwater and Pepe Reina] to stay. We are allowed bigger squads now and a bigger subs bench. I am keen to have as many as I can.”

-Dean Smith; source: Birmingham Live

Drinkwater’s loan contract is set to expire on June 30 at the moment, but new league regulations allow teams to agree temporary extensions, just as teams are able to agree temporary contract extensions with players on expiring contracts — although as we’re seeing with Willian and Pedro, that’s not a guaranteed outcome.

But there shouldn’t be any objections to Drinkwater staying from either the player or the club, so presumably this will be made official soon. Meanwhile, Drinkwater and the rest of his Villa teammates will get the Premier League restarted later today. Let’s go!