Chelsea midfielder, Danny Drinkwater has opened up on his struggles after the club snubbed him ahead of the new premier league season.
Drinkwater, who moved to Chelsea following a successful 2015-16 Premier League season where he won the league with Leicester, has experienced downtimes since his move to Stamford Bridge.
He has failed to become a regular player at the club and suffered scandals last season.
Apart from a drink-driving charge and an incident in a nightclub, he headbutted a team-mate while on loan at Aston Villa, and now the 30 year old has been snubbed by the club as Chelsea opted not to assign him a number for the coming campaign with new signing, Thiago Silva taking Drinkwater’s former number six jersey.
Drinkwater has now vowed to ‘clean himself up’
“I have taken a good look at myself loads of times,” Drinkwater told the Telegraph. “I told myself that I needed to clean myself up big time.
“I had a wake-up call after the drink-driving, another wake-up call after the nightclub and then another wake-up call after the incident at Villa. Then it’s like, this has got to stop.
“I won’t use Chelsea as an excuse for the drink-driving. Obviously, my mental state wasn’t the best, but it was ridiculous and it should never have happened.
“There were a few things going on then away from football, my nan and grandad passed away quite close together and, this might sound daft to anyone who doesn’t have a dog, but my dog passed away and that hurt me. It was all part of the sticky patch.
“For everything to come in a short space of time with my career not going to plan was too much for me. It hit me.”
Though contracted to Chelsea until 2022, Drinkwater is determined to force through a move as soon as possible.
“I’ve got loads more to give. I’m open to going abroad, even though it will be difficult with my son,” he said.
“I need an anchor and I need to sort out one side of my life, so if I can sort my football out, even if it is abroad, then that will help in the long term.
“It probably all comes down to patience and trust with me. I need to change for it to work, otherwise I’ll be stuck in this vicious circle.
“If I can trust people who are good at their job and be patient then I can only see me building my career back up now. I can’t see me staying in this situation. No chance.”
