Why Chelsea must end Drinkwater’s horror spell and let him go to Besiktas

According to Turkish publication Fanatik (h/t The Sun), Turkish outfit Besiktas have offered Chelsea outcast Danny Drinkwater a loan deal.

The Blues midfielder, who is currently on loan at Burnley, has made just 2 appearances since moving from Stamford Bridge last summer.

Now, Besiktas have appeared as saviours, with the Turkish club ready to offer an 18-month loan switch for the unwanted midfielder, the report claims.

Drinkwater, who moved to Chelsea in 2017 for £35million after a successful title-winning campaign with Leicester City, has seen his career take a sudden downward spiral ever since.

Mostly unused during his first season at Stamford Bridge, matters escalated further for the Englishman with the arrival of Italian boss Maurizio Sarri last season.

During Sarri’s tenure, the midfielder played just 30 minutes of football the whole year. The maximum he earned was a place on the bench.

He has so far played 23 matches for the Blues since making that switch to London two and a half years ago. He last played a league match for Chelsea in March 2018.

A veteran of 218 matches for Leicester, Drinkwater was an integral part of the Foxes midfield which won the Premier League title in 2015-16 under Italian manager Claudio Ranieri.

His eye-catching displays in the middle had caught the attention of the Blues but destiny has taken a different turn for the midfielder.

With manager Frank Lampard’s arrival last summer – and his decision to field the younger players – it has become clearer that Drinkwater has no place at Chelsea.

This saw him being offloaded to Burnley on loan. However, with manager Sean Dyche preferring Ashley Westwood, Jack Cork and Jeff Hendrick over the Blues loanee, luck is clearly not on his side.

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Meanwhile, Besiktas’ loan offer could prove to be a beacon of hope for the player.

Verdict

It is quite clear that Drinkwater is not in Lampard’s plans for the season with the squad already filled with established players.

Hence, Chelsea would be doing a world of good by letting Drinkwater move to Besiktas on loan rather than letting him rot unnecessarily at a place where he is clearly unwanted.