At £35million, for one of the stars of Leicester’s amazing Premier League triumph two seasons ago, with a third Chelsea offer due to go in today, the switch to Stamford Bridge on the face of it looks strange one.
Chelsea legend Ray Wilkins and Drinkwater’s former Manchester United teammate Phil Neville believe he should stay where he is or go somewhere else.
As transfer deadline day dawns, with Chelsea looking to bring at least three other players besides Drinkwater into the club, the Stamford Bridge midfield already looks a crowded place.
Gone are Nemanja Matic and Nathaniel Chalobah, but still surely in front of Drinkwater will be Cesc Fabregas, N’Golo Kante, and Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Wilkins said: “Danny has done really well over the last couple of years. If he comes to Chelsea, Tiemoue Bakayoko has cost £40million, Kante everybody loves – is he going to get a game with Fabregas as well?
“If I was Danny I’d go somewhere where I would play personally.”
Neville said: “Drinkwater is someone who will go straight into the squad but I’m not sure he will go straight into the team.
“Chelsea do need a little bit of a spine on English players. They lost Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah has left, John Terry has left, so the nucleus of the squad is foreign players.
“Ross Barkley, once fit, can make an impact at that football club because I think Cesc Fabregas in certain games will struggle to play. But Drinkwater is just a squad signing for me.”
Apart from obvious fact of wages, which would see Drinkwater increase his Leicester deal of £90,000-a-week to a likely £120,000 over a five-year contract, there are other reasons why he handed in a transfer request on Monday at the Kingpower Stadium in order to force through this move today.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte told his board at the end of last season that ideally he would like two players for each position in his squad.
It is why, with Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain having turned them down for the right wing back role which Conte is desperate to have cover for, Chelsea were in talks with Bayern Munich over Rafinha, and with Southampton over Cedric Soares.
And equally why the £15m deal for Swansea striker Fernando Llorente was poised to go through last night.
With a Champions League campaign looming, Conte wants cover.
Drinkwater may not get in ahead of Fabregas, Kante and Bakayoko in every game but the 27 year old will get matches, especially if Chelsea progress from an admittedly tough Champions League group. Conte wants an experienced, top level player who can be dropped straight into the action when needed and the Leicester man fits the bill.