Danny Drinkwater won the Premier League in 2016 (Image: Getty)
Former Leicester City star Danny Drinkwater decided to move his pitch to a construction site after retiring. The 34-year-old’s career has taken a surprising turn since retiring in 2022. Drinkwater failed to land another club after a loan spell with Reading and took time away from football.
At one stage, Drinkwater was regarded as one of the Premier League’s best midfielders. He started his career at Manchester United and went on to enjoy an impressive career that saw him win the Premier League with Leicester, earn three caps for England and move to Chelsea for £35 million. Despite once living a glamorous life as a professional soccer player, he insists that he “loves” practicing hard on the field.
Drinkwater was paid £120,000 a week during his time at Stamford Bridge but barely played for the Blues. He then moved on loan to Burnley, Aston Villa, Turkish club Kasimpasa and Reading before leaving the club.
In the summer of 2024, Drinkwater announced his new career on social media. “I’m still on site today,” he captioned a photo of himself standing in front of scaffolding.
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His career choice caused some negative comments. Sharing a message that read: “Damn, Danny, I’ve hit rock bottom,” he replied: “Some of these messages are: Be well behaved. I love grafting in the field! It’s a choice.”
Drinking water on site (Image: Instagram/@danny Drinkwater)
Drinkwater has spoken candidly about his mental health struggles since retiring from football. “Anyone who thinks that making money will solve all your problems is simply not true,” he said last year. “Your mental health is more important than your physical health. It was the darkest feeling I’ve ever felt.”
Speaking about his retirement on the High Performance Podcast in October, he said: “I think I’ve been in limbo for too long. Either I wanted to play but I didn’t have the opportunity to play at a level where I felt valued.”
“I just thought I don’t feel comfortable here for no reason. I’m happy not playing soccer, but I’m happy playing soccer, so should I just shake hands with sports?”
“That’s all I know. That’s been my life since I was six or seven years old. It’s never been easy. I think having that gone has definitely helped.”
Drinkwater hits back on Instagram (Image: Instagram/Drink Water)
“If I was playing week in and week out and had to stop playing due to injury or age, I think it would be more difficult. I had quite a few offers from Championship clubs, but I never had the burn. It didn’t do me any good.”
In an interview with SPORTbible, Drinkwater touched on the difficult times he faced despite his status as a Premier League idol. He said: “Football has given me a really great few years.
“There were some bad times, but the good years definitely outweighed the bad. I was able to buy my mom and dad the bungalow of my dreams. I was able to take care of my family. Are you going to sit here and say football sucks? There’s no chance of that happening.”
