Player #942 for Aston Villa, Daniel Noel Drinkwater, known as Danny Drinkwater, played as a midfielder for the club during the 2019-20 Premier League season.

Danny was born in Manchester on 5 March 1990.

Villa had signed Danny on loan from Chelsea on 7 January 2020 at the age of 29 for the remainder of the 2019-20 Premier League season as cover for injured Villa talisman John McGinn.

Paid £110,000 per week by Chelsea yet having made just 12 appearances in 3 seasons, Drinkwater arrived with heavy question marks over his commitment and attitude following his brief flirtation with success in the East Midlands.

Drinkwater had been on loan to Burnley from Chelsea and had witnessed Villa at their best at first hand when, despite losing Tom Heaton and Wesley to ACL injuries in the game, Villa turned over the hosts at Turf Moor with a fine display. Drinkwater recalled, “I watched the game and I was excited by the football in the first half, it [Villa] looked like a team that you would like to play in.”

The feeling was mutual with Dean Smith saying, “From meeting Danny I liked the hunger and he has a lot to go and prove. It has not happened at Chelsea but we are going to give him an environment where he can go and flourish.”

Drinkwater made his Villa debut in the 6-1 home defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, 12 January 2020 in a performance widely derided by the media.

Sadly, things would not improve from there, and Drinkwater proved a disaster on and off the pitch during his short spell with Villa.

Making just 4 appearances without finishing a game, Drinkwater looked unrecognisable from the midfield menace that had driven Leicester City to a freak title win just a few seasons before.

The denouement for Drinkwater’s time with Villa came when he head-butted team-mate Jota in a training ground contretemps during a practice match, as Jota himself recalled, “Of course I was angry at first, even if these things happen a lot in football. But Danny called me straight after and apologised. I could see that he felt so, so sorry about it. He called me a lot of times and said that he was angry with himself and angry that he did it. I respected him a lot after that and I think more of him now because it’s easy to do a mistake but the difficult thing is saying sorry. I don’t think he deserves people to say bad things about him for one moment only.”

Villa, understandably, considered terminating Drinkwater’s loan; however were committed to fulfilling the terms and cost of the loan agreement, including extending the spell to cover the delayed 2019-20 season.

Drinkwater failed to make another appearance, making the squad just once in the final 9 games of the season before returning to Chelsea, having now played just 17 games in 3 years.

Drinkwater recalled, “Villa was the biggest wake-up call in terms of my fitness. I was trying to rush it and, to be fair, Dean Smith was quality. He didn’t put any pressure on me, but I felt like I had no time. I played four or five games and I didn’t manage to do anything. The fans were waiting for Danny Drinkwater and this loaf of bread turned up in midfield.”

Drinkwater had played under Dean Smith.