Danny Drinkwater is growing frustrated at his bit-part role at Chelsea and will consider his future at the end of the season after finding opportunities increasingly limited since his arrival from Leicester last summer.
The England midfielder was bought for £35m on deadline day in August having made clear his desire to move south – he had even submitted a transfer request to force through the deal – only to succumb to a calf injury on his arrival. He was unable to play at all until the end of October and, having endured other niggling injuries and illness in the period since, has made only five Premier League starts.
His last appearance came in the defeat at Manchester City more than five weeks ago and N’Golo Kanté, Cesc Fàbregas and Tiémoué Bakayoko are ahead of the 28-year-old in Antonio Conte’s pecking order.
He is expected to depart Chelsea in the summer after a frustrating and acrimonious second season in charge and Drinkwater, who has fallen out of England contention, is expected to make a decision on his future once the identity of the next manager is clear.
Regardless of that appointment, the club’s recruitment department is already discussing targets and sales for next season, with changes expected in midfield. There have been suggestions in France of strong interest in Nice’s Jean Michaël Seri, who came close to joining Barcelona last year. The Ivory Coast midfielder, 26, would cost a similar fee to that paid for Drinkwater.
Fàbregas will enter the final 12 months of his contract this summer, while there is tentative interest from Monaco in re-signing Bakayoko, though that could yet prove a difficult deal to conclude, despite the France international having struggled to make much of an impact over his first season in England. Chelsea still consider the 23-year-old, for whom they paid around £40m, a player of huge potential.
Drinkwater, who had arrived hoping to re-establish his Premier League-winning midfield partnership with Kanté, may still see better prospects of regular first-team football elsewhere. That combination with the Frenchman has been used from the start only six times in all competitions, with Conte’s criticisms of the hierarchy’s transfer business last summer having prompted suggestions he had not prioritised the Englishman’s signing.
