- The mystery player hung up his boots after being in ‘a kind of no man’s land’ for too long
- He now appears to have taken on a new role, one far removed from his football career
- After he posted a photo of himself at work, social media users reacted brutally
Forgotten Chelsea flop Danny Drinkwater has hit back at criticism of his surprise new job, just a few years after his sensational Premier League title win.
The former midfielder was part of the Leicester squad that surprisingly won the top flight in 2015-16 before moving to Chelsea for £35million in 2017.
However, he made just 22 appearances during an injury-plagued debut season and was quickly left out of the first-team squad at Stamford Bridge.
Drinkwater was loaned out unsuccessfully to Burnley and Aston Villa in an attempt to revive his career, but he also suffered from disciplinary problems off the field.
The now 34-year-old pleaded guilty to drink-driving after a car crash in 2019 left two passengers injured and was banned from driving for 20 months.
Danny Drinkwater has responded to fans after being mocked for his surprise new job
Drinkwater, a Premier League title winner with Leicester, shared a photo of a construction site
Later that year, he suffered an ankle injury after an alleged brawl at a nightclub. In March 2020, Drinkwater also headbutted Villa team-mate Jota during a training session.
Drinkwater, who last featured on loan at Reading in the 2021-22 season, was recently seen hard at work on a building site, according to photos on social media.
In the first photo Drinkwater shared to his Instagram Stories, he took a selfie wearing an orange T-shirt under some scaffolding, accompanied by the caption: “On location today…”
However, after logging out, he apparently received multiple messages from users mocking his new job. Drinkwater then decided to hit back in another post.
In response to a comment that said: ‘F****** hell Danny, you’ve hit rock bottom,’ he said: ‘Behave yourself, some of these posts.’
He was responding to a post criticizing him for hitting “rock bottom” after retirement
Drinkwater endured a horror spell at Chelsea and decided to hang up his boots last year
After penning a £35million deal, Drinkwater made 22 appearances in his debut season with the Blues
“I love grafting on location! It’s a choice.”
It is not known whether Drinkwater’s move to construction, less than a year after he decided to quit, is a full-time job or merely a part-time hobby.
Speaking of the High Performance Podcast After announcing his retirement, he said: “It’s been a long time coming, maybe, especially with the last year, but I think it’s time to officially announce it. I think I’ve been in limbo for too long.
‘I wanted to play but I didn’t get the chance to play at a level where I felt valued. I’m happy not playing football but I’m happy playing football so I just shake hands with the sport?
‘It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s been my life since I was six, seven years old.
‘It was never going to be easy. If I was playing week in, week out and I had to say I had to stop, maybe because of an injury or just age, because I couldn’t move around the pitch the way I wanted to, then I think it would be harder.’