Topic: The Drinkwater option

[vladis voice]

I noticed that Danny Drinkwater has finally officially retired, 12 months after his Chelsea contract ended and 6 years after he effectively retired by moving there in the first place.

Obviously there are lots of players that move to shitty quality leagues purely for the money towards the end of their careers, and plenty more that succeed in pissing away their talent and potential by moving to the wrong club at the wrong stage in their career…but a select few manage to combine being absolutely average with picking up a juicy contract and then proceed to just do fuck all for the entire duration of said contract.

Young (and lightly raced) Danny is a case in point, and I think Chelsea have had a couple of others too (who was the Dutch left back?) so I was wondering who RAWK thinks of as the epitome of average/massive contract/dialling it in footballers?

[darragh85]

I noticed that Danny Drinkwater has finally officially retired, 12 months after his Chelsea contract ended and 6 years after he effectively retired by moving there in the first place.

Obviously there are lots of players that move to shitty quality leagues purely for the money towards the end of their careers, and plenty more that succeed in pissing away their talent and potential by moving to the wrong club at the wrong stage in their career…but a select few manage to combine being absolutely average with picking up a juicy contract and then proceed to just do fuck all for the entire duration of said contract.

Young (and lightly raced) Danny is a case in point, and I think Chelsea have had a couple of others too (who was the Dutch left back?) so I was wondering who RAWK thinks of as the epitome of average/massive contract/dialling it in footballers?

Winston Bogarde.

at least he won a champions league and played for Barcelona though

[Terry de Niro]

Are we allowed to throw Dele Alli's name into the hat?

[elbow]

Are we allowed to throw Dele Alli's name into the hat?

Given his fairly open and honest admission of serious mental health issues, probably not.

[Terry de Niro]

Given his fairly open and honest admission of serious mental health issues, probably not.

Aye, agreed.
Mark him down in the same group as Stan Collymore and a few others.

[darragh85]

Phil Jones?

[Party Phil]

Winston Bogarde was always the classic example of an average footballer deliberately running down a lucrative contract by doing fuck all on the pitch but making sure that he turned up at training absolutely every single day so that they couldn't sack him.

'Why should I throw fifteen million euro away when it is already mine? At the moment I signed it was in fact my money, my contract. Both sides agreed wholeheartedly (...) Few people will ever earn so many. I am one of the few fortunates who do. I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don't care.'

[Party Phil]

Phil Jones?

I think this is a completely different case. Jones was debatably never at the required level and had several debilitating injuries. I read an article a year or two ago where he still hoped to get back to the first team. I don't think he deliberately ran down his contract like Bogarde or pissed everything away like Drinkwater.

[dikwad]

We had that fella who came with Diouf. Tried to sell him to Stoke City but he was too fat to pass the medical

[Samie]

We had that fella who came with Diouf. Tried to sell him to Stoke City but he was too fat to pass the medical

Salif Diao, World Cup 2002 superstar. 

[CortexVortex]

Albert Streit during his time at Schalke comes to mind.

[xbugawugax]

Winston Bogarde was always the classic example of an average footballer deliberately running down a lucrative contract by doing fuck all on the pitch but making sure that he turned up at training absolutely every single day so that they couldn't sack him.

'Why should I throw fifteen million euro away when it is already mine? At the moment I signed it was in fact my money, my contract. Both sides agreed wholeheartedly (...) Few people will ever earn so many. I am one of the few fortunates who do. I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don't care.'

had to be chelsea isnt it. seems like they attract this kind of players. bet 15-20 years from now, instead of players doing a bogarde, we will hear players doing a lavia, nkuku, sterling...lol

[JC the Messiah]

Lavia at Chelsea

[12C]

Aye, agreed.
Mark him down in the same group as Stan Collymore and a few others.

Saw a piece just yesterday by Stan where he said he made the wrong choice to join Villa as a move from Liverpool was always a step down but it was his boyhood club and he couldn’t say no.

[thaddeus]

Of all the players in that Leicester squad that lived a season far beyond their abilities Drinkwater is probably the most extreme.  The legend of Kante doing the work of two midfielders came about from him doing his and Drinkwater's jobs.  Chelsea getting duped into spending £35m is classic Abramovich and, as usual, they suffered no penalty for such bad decisions.

Villa had a couple of beauts in Micah Richards (3 appearances in his final three seasons) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (4 starts and 2 goals in his final two seasons as a massive earner in the Championship).

I thought Gareth Bale but he had that productive loan at Spurs and had one last roll of the dice in the MLS.

[Crosby Nick]

Hazard at Real? Went for a massive fee. Affected by injuries and just barely featured at all in his last couple of seasons. Massive waste of money.

[Kenny's Jacket]

I thought Gareth Bale but he had that productive loan at Spurs and had one last roll of the dice in the MLS.

played in the 2016 2017 and 2018 champions league finals, scoring one of the best goals ever in a final.
Took his Wales to the semi final of the Euros. Injuries ravaged him after that.

Owen is a much better shout than Bale

[thaddeus]

played in the 2016 2017 and 2018 champions league finals, scoring one of the best goals ever in a final.
Took his Wales to the semi final of the Euros. Injuries ravaged him after that.

Owen is a much better shout than Bale

I was thinking more of his latter seasons at Madrid where he publicly fell out with Zidane and made a big show of looking disinterested in the stands.  His Madrid career definitely fizzled out and it seems from the outside like he was quite content for that to be the case.  I'm not sure about the injuries as he played regularly for Wales right up until the very end of his career.

[rossipersempre]

Didn't Bale agree an escape to the Chinese league (when they were what the Saudis are today) but Madrid blocked it as wanted a fat transfer fee for him.

[Dull Tools]

Jadon Sancho?

[Kenny's Jacket]

I was thinking more of his latter seasons at Madrid where he publicly fell out with Zidane and made a big show of looking disinterested in the stands.  His Madrid career definitely fizzled out and it seems from the outside like he was quite content for that to be the case.  I'm not sure about the injuries as he played regularly for Wales right up until the very end of his career.

Its his Wales performances that prove to me it was the injuries, he was hugely motivated to play for Wales and with each passing year his ability to run diminished more and more.  The campaign where Wales qualified for the world cup, he was quite static but took free kicks and made passes

He only played 5 times for RM that season.

[Kenny's Jacket]

Jadon Sancho?

]
Doesnt that fall into the Dele Ali category?

[Dull Tools]

]
Doesnt that fall into the Dele Ali category?

Has it been about mental health? Anyone could have told him it was a bad idea to go there at the time. Dele Alli made a good move, played well and then struggled.

[Kenny's Jacket]

Has it been about mental health? Anyone could have told him it was a bad idea to go there at the time. Dele Alli made a good move, played well and then struggled.

I thought it had to be honest

[Lusty]

I noticed that Danny Drinkwater has finally officially retired, 12 months after his Chelsea contract ended and 6 years after he effectively retired by moving there in the first place.

Obviously there are lots of players that move to shitty quality leagues purely for the money towards the end of their careers, and plenty more that succeed in pissing away their talent and potential by moving to the wrong club at the wrong stage in their career…but a select few manage to combine being absolutely average with picking up a juicy contract and then proceed to just do fuck all for the entire duration of said contract.

Young (and lightly raced) Danny is a case in point, and I think Chelsea have had a couple of others too (who was the Dutch left back?) so I was wondering who RAWK thinks of as the epitome of average/massive contract/dialling it in footballers?

Kalvin Phillips surely? 

[B0151?]

Tbf Drinkwater had had plenty of off the field issues also. Don't know how much is him just being a tit or what, never know what footballers are going through. The gross amounts of money they earn and that Premier League status means it is very easy for all that to go to their heads and the demons take over.

I'm sure being a big signing and not playing football has an effect even on those who may have the appearance of being happy to just pick up a pay cheque. I imagine Drinkwater had to work hard to get to that position where Chelsea bought him, and surely he had hope he would be a success there too.

Not saying we can't talk about this though, interesting subject. There's a good number who have gone to Chelsea and Man City. Everton have had some stinkers too.

[KillieRed]

That Kaiser fella in South America made a career out of it. Basically a back up QB who just wants to get paid to carry a clipboard and be the starters buddy, but fingers crossed never have to actually play.

[slaphead]

Pogba. Never ever seen anything in him, said in public a few times he didn't try hard enough in games yet seems to get massive contracts. Or did,

[upthereds1993]

Tomas Kalas for Chelsea. Signed in 2010, left in 2019. Nine loans to six different clubs. Made a total of two league appearances for Chelsea during his nine years at the club. One of which, was the Gerrard "slip" game in 2014.

Jack Rodwell for Sunderland probably worth a mention too. Refused to leave the club after they dropped down to the Championship due to the generous salary he was picking up. Resulted in him not making an appearance from September onwards during the 2017-2018 season, whilst pocketing £70k a week.

[Dull Tools]

Tomas Kalas for Chelsea. Signed in 2010, left in 2019. Nine loans to six different clubs. Made a total of two league appearances for Chelsea during his nine years at the club. One of which, was the Gerrard "slip" game in 2014.

Jack Rodwell for Sunderland probably worth a mention too. Refused to leave the club after they dropped down to the Championship due to the generous salary he was picking up. Resulted in him not making an appearance from September onwards during the 2017-2018 season, whilst pocketing £70k a week.

Lots of Chelsea players who have spent years on loan.

[Crimson]

Hazard when he went to Real.

[Crosby Nick]

Lots of Chelsea players who have spent years on loan.

Couldn’t even tell you his name but isn’t their current longest serving player someone who’s just about had more clubs on loan than he had first team appearances?

[gerrardisgod]

Think he finally left them last season, Lewis Baker?

[thaddeus]

Lots of Chelsea players who have spent years on loan.

For me they're a bit different to the players that seemingly fell out of love with the game towards the end of their careers and just took the money whilst riding out the last few years of their contract.

I mentioned Micah Richards earlier as he's a player that pretty much checked out at 24 but kept the money rolling in until he was 31 and eventually retired.  He had a few injuries in that period but nothing career defining.  He seemingly didn't have much appetite to play in the Championship after Villa were relegated but kept taking his £35k/week for those two seasons.

Somebody mentioned Phil Jones but he did have some brutal injuries.  I'm sure he'd have wished it played out differently but he was at least fortunate enough to have four years of very good money whilst he went through that rehab.

I think most professional players do want to play and those that don't want to take a pay cut from an overly generous contract will generally find a loan move somewhere whilst their contracts wind down.

[Kopenhagen]

Hazard at Real Madrid. Tarnished his reputation with such unprofessional behaviour.

[B0151?]

For me they're a bit different to the players that seemingly fell out of love with the game towards the end of their careers and just took the money whilst riding out the last few years of their contract.

I mentioned Micah Richards earlier as he's a player that pretty much checked out at 24 but kept the money rolling in until he was 31 and eventually retired.  He had a few injuries in that period but nothing career defining.  He seemingly didn't have much appetite to play in the Championship after Villa were relegated but kept taking his £35k/week for those two seasons.

Somebody mentioned Phil Jones but he did have some brutal injuries.  I'm sure he'd have wished it played out differently but he was at least fortunate enough to have four years of very good money whilst he went through that rehab.

I think most professional players do want to play and those that don't want to take a pay cut from an overly generous contract will generally find a loan move somewhere whilst their contracts wind down.

Thing is sometimes if a player isn't willing to accept a move and paycut the club will try and force them out by making them train alone etc and be reluctant to loan them out if it means subsidising part of the wages and not getting them off the books completely. Can get quite messy, and no doubt it would impact on the players love or desire for the game.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Placcy Ronaldo when he went back to yernited

[owens_2k]

There's a handful of goalies who accepted offers to be number 2 or 3 at clubs simply due to their nationality. Scott Carson comes to mind.

[thaddeus]

I had a call with an old colleague today that supports Reading and he was bemoaning how they'd let Lucas Joao piss about for two years and then leave on a free transfer.  They're currently bottom of League One!

Joao isn't one I was thinking of for doing a Drinkwater but one of his new teammates at Shanghai Port is - Oscar! From a nailed on starter for Chelsea across four seasons - winning two league titles - and keeping the in-form Coutinho out of the Brazil team, he took the money and headed to China as a 25-year old.  To be fair he wasn't the only one but he's a rarity in that he's still there seven seasons later.  Needless to say he's not added to his 48 Brazil caps but he's presumably incredibly rich without exerting too much energy.

[Elmo!]

Was watching the Aberdeen vs PAOK game on Thursday (had on quiely on a different screen to the Liverpool game before anyone asks  ) and was surprised to see Baba Rahman was playing for them. He finally left Chelsea permanently this summer after making 15 appearances in 8 years, with 7 loan spells.