Danny Drinkwater will always be remembered for helping Leicester City win the Premier League title in 2016.
Drinkwater was influential in midfield alongside N’Golo Kante during the 2015/16 campaign as Claudio Ranieri masterminded the greatest achievement in modern football.
The Englishman was the deep-lying playmaker while his teammate Kante aggressively won the ball back for his team, forming an incredible partnership.
Consequently, several clubs chased players from Leicester’s title-winning squad. Famously, Jamie Vardy rejected a transfer to Arsenal, meanwhile, N’Golo Kante joined Chelsea for £30 million.
Chelsea also signed Drinkwater in 2017 but the Blues did attempt to capture him in 2016, with the 35-year-old now explaining why it didn’t happen.
Why Danny Drinkwater’s transfer to Chelsea fell through in 2016
According to Drinkwater, the London giants wanted to sign him after the title win, but once Kante joined in July 2016, Leicester couldn’t agree to let him leave.
“No, it was good. I mean, obviously hindsight now is bad, but it was… I just wish it happened quicker,” he said when asked about his switch to Chelsea on the Rio Present’s podcast.
“So it was the season we won, I was supposed to go. They had a falling out with Leicester, like regarding N’Golo’s kind of fee and stuff. So they said, just be patient.”
Drinkwater also revealed that Chelsea attempted to prise him from the King Power Stadium in January 2017. However, he was focused on Champions League football with Leicester before finally sealing a transfer later on in the year.
“They came again in January and I said, I want to stick out the Champions League,” he added. “And then they came again in the summer, but like it happened so late in that window. Like, so I’ve had two windows previous where I thought I’m going.
“So my head’s kind of like in it, but not in it. And I want to kind of concentrate on Leicester, the second window. And then the third window, I was thinking, s***, this ain’t going to happen now.
“So like I’ve committed like mentally to getting myself to Chelsea. And then just it happened so late in the window. I just, if it was, I would have liked it to have been sooner.”
Drinkwater’s career post-Leicester City
Unfortunately, once he got his big move to Chelsea, injury troubles plagued him from ever getting fit and forced him into multiple loan exits.
Drinkwater played just 23 times for the Blues during his five years in West London while spending time on loan at clubs such as Burnley, Aston Villa, Kasimpasa and Reading.
Eventually, the midfielder retired at the age of 33 in October 2023, calling time on a career that will always be remembered for the title win at Leicester.
Now, he’s pursuing a completely different career path post-football, working on building sites and renovating a number of properties around the Manchester area.