Daniel Noel Drinkwater (born 5 March 1990) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who is a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. Having come through the youth academy at Manchester United, he spent time on loan with

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, Cardiff City,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He moved to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in 2012, where he was part of the Foxes side that was promoted to the top flight and later part of their the Premier League title winning team in 2016. Since moving to Chelsea in 2017 he has spent time on loan with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, Kasımpaşa and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Drinkwater has also played internationally for England at under-18, under-19 and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

levels, winning three caps in 2016 for the latter whilst a Leicester player.

Club career

Manchester United

Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Drinkwater joined the Manchester United academy at the age of nine, progressing through the ranks before earning a trainee contract in July 2006. In his first season at the club, Drinkwater became a regular in the Manchester United under-18 team, making 27 appearances and scoring two goals. He received his first taste of reserve team action that same season, coming off the bench to replace

Ritchie Jones Richard Glynn "Ritchie" Jones (born 26 September 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a product of the Manchester United youth system and was joined the club at the age of nine, Jones made five ...

in a 5–2

Premier Reserve League The Premier Reserve League (officially known as The Barclays Premier Reserve League for sponsorship reasons) was the reserve team league for the top English football teams in the Premier League. The league was split into a northern and a southern ...

win at home to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. The following season, Drinkwater consolidated his position in the under-18s team while increasing his presence in the reserves. In the 2008

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is a football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Football Association ...

final against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 31 July 2008, Drinkwater came on as a 56th-minute substitute for

Rodrigo Possebon Rodrigo Pereira Possebon (born 13 February 1989) is a professional footballer who last played as a midfielder for V.League 1 side Hồ Chí Minh City. A box-to-box midfielder, as a youth, he played for Internacional in Brazil. He was spotted a ...

before scoring the winning goal three minutes from full-time. In the 2008–09 season, Drinkwater became a regular in the reserve team, making 18 appearances and getting on the scoresheet twice. At the end of the season, he was called up to the Manchester United first team for their

dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...

league match against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

on 24 May 2009. He was named on the bench, but did not take to the field.

Loans

To gain first-team experience, on 14 August 2009, Drinkwater joined

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for the duration of the 2009–10 season. He made his debut for the club the very next day, coming on in the 72nd minute for Gary Roberts in a 3–1 win at home to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. His first goal for Huddersfield came three days later in a 7–1 home win over

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, five minutes after coming on as a 64th-minute substitute. He made his first start for Huddersfield in a 1–0 defeat at

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on 22 August. On 8 July 2010, Manchester United agreed for Drinkwater to spend a season-long loan spell at Cardiff City. As they were under a transfer embargo at the time, Cardiff said that the move would be completed once this had been lifted. The move was eventually confirmed on 6 August 2010, once the embargo had been removed. Drinkwater's competitive debut for Cardiff two days later, in their 1–1 home draw with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

on the opening day of the

2010–11 Football League The 2010–11 Football League (known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 112th completed season of the Football League. It began in August 2010 and concluded in May 2011, with the promotion play-off finals. The Footb ...

season. Despite the loan having originally been intended to last the entire season, Manchester United recalled Drinkwater from Cardiff on 25 January 2011. During his time with Cardiff, Drinkwater made 12 appearances, including nine in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. Just three days after his return to Manchester United, Drinkwater joined

on 28 January 2011 on loan until the end of the season. On 23 August 2011, Drinkwater joined

on loan until 2 January 2012, which was later extended until 30 June 2012. He made 17 Championship appearances for the Tykes, scoring in a 5–3 loss at his former team Cardiff on 22 October.

Leicester City

On 20 January 2012, Drinkwater joined

from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee. After being named

Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the English football league system, second tier of English football. ...

for December 2013, he was also one of three players who received a nomination for the Championship Player of the Year Award. Drinkwater had his most successful year as a professional, scoring seven goals and being named to the PFA Championship Team of the Year alongside teammates

Kasper Schmeichel Kasper Peter Schmeichel (born 5 November 1986) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Nice and the Denmark national team. Schmeichel began his career with Manchester City, but had loan spells with Darlington, B ...

and

Wes Morgan Westley Nathan Morgan (born 21 January 1984) is a former professional footballer who made over 750 professional appearances as a defender for Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and the Jamaican national team, as well as a brief loan spell at Ki ...

, as Leicester were promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

after winning the Championship. On 17 June 2014, Drinkwater signed a new four-year deal with Leicester after helping the Foxes win promotion to the Premier League for the first time in ten years. Drinkwater played consistently as the Foxes won the Premier League title in 2015–16, alongside his midfield partners

N'Golo Kanté N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Chelsea and the France national team. Considered by many to be one of the world's best midfielders, Kanté is widely praised ...

Marc Albrighton Marc Kevin Albrighton (born 18 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or wing-back for Championship side West Bromwich Albion, on loan from Premier League club Leicester City. Albrighton joined Aston Vil ...

and

Riyad Mahrez Riyad Karim Mahrez ( ar, رياض كريم محرز, Riyāḍ Karīm Maḥraz; born 21 February 1991) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for club Manchester City F.C., Manches ...

. He scored his first top-flight goal on 23 January 2016, to open a 3–0 win over

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

at the

King Power Stadium King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...

. On 25 August 2016, Drinkwater signed a contract to remain with the club until 2021.

Chelsea

On 1 September 2017, Drinkwater signed for Premier League champions

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on a five-year contract, for a £35 million fee. Due to a thigh injury that ruled him out previously, he made his debut on 25 October in the last 16 of the EFL Cup, playing an hour of a 2–1 home win over Everton. Drinkwater made his first Premier League start for the Blues in a 1–1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on 25 November. On 30 December, he scored his first and only goal for Chelsea, a well-executed half volley, in a 5–0 home win over

. His first season at Chelsea saw him make 22 appearances in all competitions, including four in the Blues' triumphant

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

campaign. However, injury meant Drinkwater was not involved in the final, against his old club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. With the arrival of new manager

Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri (; born 10 January 1959) is an Italian professional football manager who is the current manager of club Lazio. Sarri did not play football professionally, taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a banker. ...

, Drinkwater made no league appearances at all in the 2018–19 season. His only appearance in all competitions was during the 2018

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in August 2018.

Loan to Burnley

Drinkwater signed for Premier League club

on 8 August 2019 on loan until 6 January 2020. He made his Burnley debut on 28 August 2019, in a 3–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

defeat to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. On 31 August 2019, he was allegedly attacked outside a nightclub, resulting in injury and two weeks out-of-action. He did not make his league debut until 3 December, in a 4–1 loss to

. Drinkwater was unable to get back into the team after that game, and on 3 January 2020, Burnley manager

Sean Dyche Sean Mark Dyche (; born 28 June 1971) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Burnley. During his playing career, Dyche played as a centre-back, making his professional debut in 1990 a ...

confirmed that Burnley would not extend his loan and he would return to Chelsea.

Loan to Aston Villa

On 7 January 2020, Drinkwater signed for

on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season. Aston Villa manager

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

watched Drinkwater train with the team before confirming his loan deal. Smith stated that he was confident that Drinkwater had put the issues that had affected his previous loan behind him and he would be ready to provide cover for the injured

John McGinn John McGinn (born 18 October 1994) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Aston Villa, where he is captain, and the Scotland national team. McGinn previously played for St Mirren and Hibernian, and also re ...

. On 11 March, Drinkwater was told to leave Aston Villa's training ground following an altercation with teammate

Jota Jota may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet; * (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet; * The name of the ...

, in which Drinkwater reportedly directed a headbutt at the player.

Return to Chelsea

In May,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

named Drinkwater's move to Chelsea as the second-worst transfer in

history, behind only Ali Dia's move to

. Drinkwater was not allocated a squad number for the 2020–21 season, with his former number 6 allocated to new signing

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea and captains the Brazil national team. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he is known f ...

. In an interview with ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' in September 2020, Drinkwater spoke of his off-field issues and stated his desire to get his career back on track, including the possibility of playing abroad.

Loan to Kasımpaşa

On 18 January 2021, Drinkwater signed for Turkish club Kasımpaşa on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut as a substitute against Göztepe on 28 February.

Loan to Reading

On 30 August 2021, Drinkwater joined

on loan until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 November 2021 in a 3–2 win against Swansea City. Chelsea announced on 10 June 2022 that Drinkwater would leave the club when his contract expired at the end of June.

International career

Drinkwater made his debut for the England under-18 team in their 2–0 win over Ghana, where he scored the second goal of the match. His second under-18 cap came in a 2–0 win over

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He also made appearances for the England under-19s between 2008 and 2009. His first appearance came in their match against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

on 8 October 2008. His final appearance for the England under-19s came against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

on 2 August 2009. He was called up to the full

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

squad for the first time on 17 March 2016, ahead of friendlies against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He made his debut 12 days later in the latter match, a 2–1 loss at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in which he was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

. Drinkwater was named in

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to th ...

's 26-man provisional squad for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

but was one of three players axed for the final selection.

Personal life

In April 2019, Drinkwater was charged with drink-driving after crashing his Range Rover into a wall in

Mere, Cheshire Mere is a civil parish and linear village along the old course of the A556 road in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, North West England, about south-west of Altrincham. Bucklow Hill is at its northea ...

. There were two other passengers in the car at the time of the accident, who were treated for minor injuries. Drinkwater appeared at Stockport Magistrates' Court on 13 May, where he pleaded guilty to drink-driving and received a 20-month driving ban. In September 2019, Drinkwater was attacked outside a Manchester nightclub, allegedly following a dispute with fellow footballer Kgosi Ntlhe, which resulted in ankle ligament damage.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Leicester City *

: 2015–16 *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

: 2013–14 Chelsea *

: 2017–18 England U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

runner-up:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2013–14 Championship * Football League Championship Player of the Month: December 2013 *

Player of the Season: 2013–14 * Leicester City Goal of the Season: 2013–14

References

External links

Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drinkwater, Danny 1990 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English footballers England youth international footballers England international footballers Association football midfielders Manchester United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Reading F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey English expatriate sportspeople in Turkey