A former midfielder for the Premier League has taken to social media to confront the hostility after sharing images of himself at work on a construction site.
The 34-year-old former Chelsea and Aston Villa player has mostly kept to himself since his complete retirement from football in October 2023, but his most recent Instagram post has suddenly thrust him back into the spotlight.
After a string of problems away from the field, his career began to wane, and he last appeared for Reading on loan in the 2021–22 season.
Although he joined Manchester United at the tender age of nine, Danny Drinkwater was never able to make it into the first squad despite graduating from the club’s academy.
His permanent move to Leicester came after a few of loan stints in lesser leagues; he was an integral part of Leicester’s rise from the Championship to the Premier League,
a feat they accomplished in 2015–16 against the infamously high odds of 5000/1. Drinkwater remained at Leicester for an additional year,
earning three appearances for the England National Team. He was an integral part of the midfield during their seemingly improbable Premier League championship triumph, with N’Golo Kante.
He joined up with Kante a year after his £35 million summer 2017 transfer to Chelsea, and the two of them inked a hefty £120,000-a-week deal.
The British player’s fortunes declined when Maurizio Sarri took over as manager, after making 22 appearances and scoring once in an injury-plagued first season.
After loan stints at Burnley, Aston Villa, Reading, and Turkish club Kasimpasa failed to reignite his career, Drinkwater only played one more game for the club in four years.
The ex-midfield enforcer has found himself back in the limelight after sharing images of himself on a construction job with the hashtag “On site today.”
It was a poor decision on his part to inform his 585,000 followers about his new hands-on job; he got some nasty remarks, which he decided to address on his account.
Danny, you’ve touched rock bottom, according to one user. In response, Drinkwater stated: “Some of these messages, behave. I really like working on-site. You get to decide.
Following his arrest for drunk driving and subsequent assault outside a nightclub, which injured his ankle ligaments, the former Leicester star has spoken publicly about his struggles with mental health.
A Manchester restaurant he had invested in after retiring went bankrupt after amassing £2 million in debt, costing him £782,000, according to an article in The Sun from November.
Additionally, Drinkwater acquired a 70% ownership in another eatery that has since closed permanently.
“Anyone who thinks earning good money will solve all of your problems is not true at all,” the Manchester-born Premier League champion said in 2023, an admission that he is still finding his feet after retirement.
Physical health takes a back seat to mental wellness. “It was the lowest point of my emotional life,” he said.
In addition, Drinkwater made an appearance on the High Performance Podcast in October of last year, when he disclosed:
“I feel like I’ve been hanging around for way too long. I’ve either been wanting to play but not getting the chances to play at a level where I felt valued.”
“I was wondering if it would be appropriate to simply shake hands with the sport, since I’m unhappy both playing and not playing football, and I’m finding this place to be quite unsettling.”
that has never been easy, but that is all I have known since I was six or seven years old. I believe it has certainly helped that it has subsided.
I suppose it would be difficult if I had to quit playing every week due to injury or old age. “I’ve had a number of offers from Championship clubs, but I never felt the pressure; it was ineffective,” the ex-Blue said.
