Lack of offers to keep Drinkwater at Chelsea — report

According to the London Evening Standard, Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater, recently deemed “surplus to requirements”, is set to stay at Stamford Bridge for a third season, mostly due to a lack of offers for his services (which cost a prohibitive £100,000 per week).

Drinkwater’s only appearance in an “official” game in the last twelve months was a 30-minute cameo in the 2018 Community Shield under Maurizio Sarri, who then ignored him for the rest of the season, deeming him incapable of playing in the three-man midfield of Sarri-ball. This preseason, Danny hasn’t been terrible, but hasn’t been impressive enough either to warrant a place in starting eleven.

He does have the benefit of homegrown status, which makes it easy to retain him as part of the 25-man Premier League or Champions League squad. He is certainly not useless but in a midfield brimming with talent, both old and new, it would be surprising to see him receive a lot of minutes. The question then becomes, is he happy to just sit on the bench (or in the stands) and collect his paycheck, or will he push for a move somewhere to actually earn his keep?