Aston Villa make Danny Drinkwater transfer decision after Chelsea wage demands emerge (Image: Getty)
Aston Villa have decided they will not pay Danny Drinkwater’s £110,000-a-week wages which Chelsea are demanding are stumped up in full for them to sanction a loan move for the midfielder. Drinkwater recently returned to Chelsea after cutting short his spell at Burnley.
Having become a peripheral figure at Chelsea, Drinkwater barely got the chance to put himself in the shop window under Sean Dyche, but made just two appearances in all competitions this season.
The 29-year-old’s stint at Turf Moor, which was initially a half-season deal, was marred by an incident at a nightclub which resulted in him sustaining an ankle injury.
Villa nonetheless expressed an interest in temporarily signing the one-time Premier League winner due to John McGinn’s ankle injury which sideline for a further few months.
But Villa Park chiefs were told by their Chelsea counterparts that they would have to cover Drinkwater’s £110,000-a-week wages in full.
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“The way he’s recovered from that, the way he’s looked after himself, he’s tried to be part of the group.
“We just haven’t got him as much game-time as what he wanted, and what he needs as well.
“But I like him a lot, I like him as a player and a character and I wish him well.
“The [nightclub] incident was unfortunate, it cost us a lot more time than we thought – us and him, of course – and in that time we got reasonably good value from the team with points on the board.”