Sarri has basically confirmed Chelsea are going to get rid of him in January. “I told him two months ago he cannot play on a midfield two" Sarri has said in a very honest appraisal of Drinkwatera central midfield abilities.
I think we all knew this would eventually happen the moment Chelsea signed him in what was a ludicrous transfer decision for them, but great for us at the time.
I personally would take him back at a cut price (say £15m or less), there’s no way Chelsea are going to recoup the silly money they paid for him. He’s better than Silva who should leave and clearly isn’t in Puels plans. Silva felt like a rushed signing at the time and it hasn’t worked out for him.
He’s probably also better than Iborra who at times looks class and other times just gives the ball away. He would be an alternative to Mendy for me (who has really impressed me) and someone who can pick out a great pass when needed.
He’s not a top midfielder by any means but it feels like he’s still a part of our family in many ways. I think he’s good in the dressing room, part of the superb team spirit we had in 2016 and could slot back in. Any thoughts? Remember this would only be on the condition that he’s cheap and we get rid of Silva
Danny Drinkwater
posted on 4/11/18
fair comment black star but I would agree about getting rid of silva and getting someone like grealish from the villa.they took our best player draper a few years ago and it would be nice to sign him. he would score more goals than drinkwater who only scored 2 when we won the premier. to me we haven't got enough scoring options in midfield ndidi and mendi ae both defensive I would put one on the bench for someone like grealish.
posted on 4/11/18
We need someone who can link the strikers to the defence. Nobody is capable of it currently and it means we often lack any cutting edge.
DD could be the answer to that, but would he fit in to our current system? He’d have to play the “quarterback” role and I’m not sure that’s suited to his abilities.
As you say BS, he’s good but limited.
Worth a loan until the end of the season to see how he fits maybe.
posted on 4/11/18
Bring him in and let Silva go back to Sporting. The move hasn’t worked out for either; sometimes it just happens that way.
posted on 4/11/18
I have a feeling Mendy is covering the fact that the back 4 are very creaky right now. Puel knows Mendy isn’t going to offer anything going forward but that back 4 is worse than it was under Ranieri in that second season.
posted on 4/11/18
I would imagie Chelsea's ideal scenario would be to loan him out to a club like Leicester where he has a chance of finding form (in comparison to his time at Chelsea) and therefore increases his potential fee when they look to sell him in the summer.
He played in the same kind of position on the pitch as Mendy/Ndidi albeit in a slightly different role so it's not like he would be a fish out of water.
It also would offer the opportunity for Puel to continue with his new tactics/formation (it's not like Drinkwater didn't try to get stuck in within his pairing role with Kante) but have the addition of maybe incorporating Vardy's abilities a little more without compromising other aspects of his vision/way forward for Leicester.
I think he would definitely improve our squad, but I think Puel bringing back a player from the success before him and/or Drinkwater feeling like it may be a backward step may be an issue. But being optimistic, I have seen this as a potential loan signing since the back-end of last season.
posted on 4/11/18
When they signed Drinkwater I couldn’t help thinking it was a bad signing for everybody:
Bad for us because he was well integrated into our team
Bad for them because it would be unlikely that he’d fit their style and system
Bad for him as it was unlikely he’d get the game time he needs
I feel no particular pleasure in being proven correct that the signing of was a waste of time for all concerned. You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to see it coming.
Instinctively I always felt like you don’t go back, but under the conditions that BS states I don’t think it would be a bad signing. He links very well with Vardy and would probably link defence with attack much better than our current options. The only way we win, however, is if it’s at a much reduced cost (as stated).
Not sure that I would favour a loan. If he was successful it would just push the price up for Chelsea’s asset. If it failed then it doesn’t really help anyone.