Chelsea flop Danny Drinkwater finds new job on construction site

While Danny Drinkwater’s spell at Chelsea ended in disappointment, the former England midfielder has now embraced a completely different job, working on a construction site after retiring at 33. The contrast between his high‑profile football career and his hands‑on role highlights how quickly fortunes can change in sport.

Hal’s academic and media journey

Hal earned an MA in Sports Journalism and an NCTJ qualification from St Mary’s University Twickenham before joining the Valnet network in late 2021. He began as a freelance writer for This Is Futbol, later moving to FootballFanCast where he became social media editor. Today he edits for GiveMeSport, covering the Premier League, Champions League and English football.

Beyond football, Hal also contributes to GiveMeSport’s coverage of other major sports such as MMA, boxing, darts, tennis and golf, with the summer and winter Olympics featuring prominently on his calendar.

Danny Drinkwater’s football rise and fall

Born in Manchester, Drinkwater entered the Manchester United academy at nine, made the bench for a Premier League match in 2009 and left Old Trafford in 2012 after loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Cardiff City, Watford and Barnsley. He signed for Leicester City, helped the Foxes win the Championship, scored seven goals and earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year.

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In 2015/16 Leicester stunned the world by winning the Premier League, with Drinkwater playing 35 league games alongside N’Golo Kante. A September 2017 move to Chelsea for a reported £35 million fee began a period of injury‑plagued seasons; he managed just 12 league appearances in his first year and only 23 in five years, spending loan spells at Burnley, Aston Villa, Kasimpasa and Reading.

His contract with the Blues expired in 2022, leaving him club‑less for over a year. After a brief link back to Leicester, Drinkwater announced his retirement on 30 October 2023 at the age of 33, having made just 75 appearances in his final six years.

Life after football

In the summer of 2024 Drinkwater posted a photograph of himself on a construction site, prompting trolling that called his new role “rock bottom”. He dismissed the criticism, saying, “Some of these messages, behave,” and added, “I love being on the site grafting! It’s a choice.”

The former England midfielder, who earned three caps for the Three Lions, now enjoys the physicality of his new job, a stark departure from the glamour of Stamford Bridge. His story underscores how a player’s fortunes can shift dramatically after the final whistle.