Ex-Chelsea star Danny Drinkwater opens up on infamous training ground headbutt on own team-mate as ‘career slipped away’
DANNY DRINKWATER has opened up on his training ground tussle with Aston Villa teammate Jota.
The former Chelsea star recalled the time that he headbutted the Spanish midfielder during a Villa training session in 2020.
Drinkwater’s actions saw him lose any chance of getting out on the pitch with then manager Dean Smith not picking him again after the bust-up.
Now retired, the 33-year-old revealed what led to his tempers flaring that day while speaking on the High Performance podcast.
The former pro explained that he was frustrated following a return to face his old side Leicester at the King Power that had seen him sit on the bench for 90 minutes as Villa lost 4-0.
He said: “It was after the Leicester game. So I’ve gone back to the King Power [to play]. It’s away Villa vs Leicester and I think we get beat 4-1 or something.
“I didn’t even get on the pitch. And I’m sat on the bench and I’m thinking ‘f****** hell. This is a place [King Power Stadium] where I used to dominate week in week out here.'”
He went on to explain that with his frustration levels high, his temper got the better of him the following day at training.
He said: “Anyone in football will tell you that the day after a game, if you’ve not played, they [the training] are absolute head-loss sessions.
“Nobody has played minutes and it’s just to get some movement into your legs and it’s just not nice at all as any player.
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“So then we’re in a game and me and the lad [Jota] end up having a little argument and it kind of carries on.
“He just tells me to shut up a few times too many and the next minute I know he’s on the floor.”
But Drinkwater immediately knew he had made a mistake and was instantly filled with regret.
He explained: “As soon as I did that I felt like s***. Not because of what I did, but because of I knew that I had reacted to something that I didn’t need to react to.
“I should’ve just walked away. I should have just let him say his piece and walked away.
“But I was in such a rut that I thought ‘f*** now mate. You’re getting it.’ I should have just walked off.”
The former Premier League champion realised his mistake but he also knew that his actions were the beginning of the end for his career which had set off on a downward spiral after he left the foxes in 2017.
When asked if he could see his career slipping away at that point, he said: “Oh yeah massively. It was going and I could feel it going.”
Drinkwater left his loan with Villa at the end of the 2019/20 season before returning to Stamford bridge only to be loaned out again for the following campaign to Turkish side Kasimpasa.
He then joined Reading for one more loan campaign before his contract expired with Chelsea and he hung up his boots earlier this year.
