Aston Villa made one of the first signings of the January transfer window when they acquired Danny Drinkwater on loan from Chelsea. The move has an air of desperation surrounding it considering the England international has failed to reproduce the form that saw him lift the Premier League title with Leicester City in 2016, while with Chelsea. He spent the first half of this season on loan with Burnley but played just 59 Premier League minutes, having made more headlines off the pitch than on it.
Last year Drinkwater was criticised for crashing into a wall after drink driving, for which he was banned from driving for 20 months. Then while at Turf Moor the Premier League winner ruled himself out for two weeks after injuring his ankle ligaments in a nightclub fight at the start of the season. The Villa loan may well be his final opportunity to find another Premier League club and avoid a return to the Championship.
While Villa are eager for reinforcements in midfield due to the ankle injury to John McGinn sustained ruling him out for three months, there is little in the past couple of seasons to suggest Drinkwater is up to the task. Since moving to Chelsea, a year after winning the Premier League with Foxes, the midfielder has made 13 top-flight appearances in three seasons. In spite of being fully fit for the 2018/19 campaign, the England international was not selected once by manager Maurizio Sarri.
Further evidence to suggest his title-winning form was a one-off comes from the fact he made more assists that season, eight from 35 matches, than the rest of his Premier League career combined, one in 65 appearances. Based on the reduced minutes he was offered by Sean Dyche, it is hard to see him starting ahead of Douglas Luiz and Marvelous Nakamba in the Aston Villa midfield.
With Conor Hourihane also available in the engine room Smith’s decision to bring in Drinkwater is a strange one. McGinn will be back in a couple of months, but striker Wesley Moraes and Tom Heaton in goal will be absent for the remainder of the season, meaning it is at either end of the pitch where Villa require reinforcements. The loan move for Drinkwater smacks of fear for a club which is desperate to stay afloat by any means possible and are scrambling for options to keep them up after unfortunate injuries.
