{"id":293482,"date":"2023-10-30T11:25:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T11:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=293482"},"modified":"2023-10-30T11:25:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T11:25:11","slug":"a-premier-league-winner-and-ex-england-international-danny-drinkwater-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/a-premier-league-winner-and-ex-england-international-danny-drinkwater-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"A Premier League winner and ex-England international \u2013 Danny Drinkwater retires"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Premier League winner Danny Drinkwater has announced his retirement from football.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old midfielder was one of the stars of Leicester\u2019s shock title triumph in 2016, earning a big-money move to Chelsea the following summer.<\/p>\n
But he did not manage to establish himself as a first-choice player at Stamford Bridge and unsuccessful loan spells at Burnley and Aston Villa followed along with disciplinary problems.<\/p>\n
He pleaded guilty to drink-driving after crashing his car in 2019, suffered an ankle injury in an incident outside a nightclub later the same year and head-butted then Villa team-mate Jota on the training ground in March 2020.<\/p>\n
Drinkwater\u2019s last appearances came on loan at Reading in 2021-22, following which his contract with Chelsea expired.<\/p>\n
Speaking on The High Performance Podcast, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming maybe, especially with the last year, but I think it\u2019s time to officially announce it now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve been in limbo for too long. I\u2019ve been wanting to play but not getting the opportunity to play at a standard or a level where I felt valued. I\u2019m happy not playing football but I\u2019m happy playing football, so do I just shake hands with the sport?<\/p>\n
It’s been a long time coming maybe, especially with the last year, but I think it’s time to officially announce it now<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all I\u2019ve known. It\u2019s been my life since I was six, seven years old. It was never going to be an easy thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was playing week in, week out and I had to say I\u2019ve got to stop, maybe through injury or through just age, not being able to get about the pitch like I\u2019d like to, I think it would be trickier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drinkwater came through the Manchester United academy but did not make a first-team appearance before joining Leicester in 2012.<\/p>\n
He was called up for the first time by England in March 2016 and made three appearances but was one of three players cut from the squad for the European Championship.<\/p>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel\u2019s Delaney\u2019s free weekly newsletter Thanks […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n