Pat Nevin sends message to Chelsea fans about summer signing in torture
The Chelsea legend believes Danny Drinkwater will be gutted to be missing the start of the 2017-18 season at his new club
Pat Nevin believes Danny Drinkwater must be in torture following a tough start to his Chelsea career.
The Blues signed the England international in a £35m deal from 2016 Premier League champions Leicester City on transfer deadline day in the summer transfer window.
Drinkwater is still waiting to make his first Chelsea appearance since his big-money move to Stamford Bridge as Antonio Conte added six new players to his squad.
The 27-year-old, who penned a five-year deal with the defending Premier League champions, is sidelined with a calf problem to keep the summer signing out of Chelsea’s opening eight Premier League games.
The England midfielder would be a good replacement for N’Golo Kante after the reigning PFA player of the year picked up a hamstring injury during France’s recent World Cup qualifier.
Former Chelsea winger Nevin has sympathy for Drinkwater given his difficult start to the Premier League campaign.
“One player in particular who must be tearing his hair out right now is Danny Drinkwater,” Nevin told Chelsea’s website.
“He would have known when he signed that getting a place in this team would be hard and opportunities might be limited.
“However right now he would be a stick-on for a good amount of match time if he wasn’t recovering from injury himself. It must be torture for the man.”
Chelsea lost 2-1 to the Premier League’s basement club Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon to leave the Blues nine points behind leaders Manchester City.
The west London side have already lost to Burnley, Crystal Palace and Manchester City this term, while the Blues dropped points in a goalless draw with Arsenal.
