Former Premier League footballer sold for £35m gets new job on building site aged 34

Former Manchester United, Chelsea and Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater has seemingly traded corner-kicks for laying bricks. Once a huge earner and an England international, the 34-year-old’s career has taken a surprising turn since hanging up his boots in 2022.

Eyebrows were raised when Drinkwater posted a photo to Instagram on Monday. The snap showed him dressed in a luminous orange top, standing next to planks of wood and under scaffolding, captioned: “On site today.”

And Drinkwater struck back at one fan who messaged him personally to say: “F***ing hell, Danny, you’ve hit rock bottom.” Screenshotting the message, the ex-Chelsea man wrote: “Some of these messages, behave. I love being on site grafting! It’s a choice.”

Drinkwater has never divulged whether construction now pays the bills on a full-time basis or whether it’s just a part-time endeavour. He earned a reported £120,000 a week during his time at Stamford Bridge.

While that spell lined Drinkwater’s pockets, he only managed 23 first-team appearances across five years on the Blues’ books, making it one of the worst transfers in Premier League history.

Drinkwater arrived at Chelsea under the weight of great expectations, having commanded a £35million price tag and won the league title with Leicester only two seasons prior.

Unsuccessful loan spells with Burnley, Aston Villa, Kasimpasa and Championship side Reading preceded Drinkwater’s departure from Chelsea in 2022. His retirement was formally announced almost 18 months afterwards.

“It’s been a long time coming maybe, especially with the last year, but I think it’s time to officially announce it now,” Drinkwater told the High Performance Podcast. “I think I’ve been in limbo for too long.

“I’ve been wanting to play but not getting the opportunity to play at a standard or a level where I felt valued. I’m happy not playing football but I’m happy playing football, so do I just shake hands with the sport?

“It’s all I’ve known. It’s been my life since I was six, seven years old. It was never going to be an easy thing. If I was playing week in, week out and I had to say I’ve got to stop, maybe through injury or through just age, not being able to get about the pitch like I’d like to, I think it would be trickier.”