Maurizio Sarri open to axing £35m Chelsea ace before end of month

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Having bolstered his midfield this summer, Danny Drinkwater reportedly doesn’t figure in Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri’s plans moving forward.

The Italian tactician has been lauded for the brand of football he has established in previous spells with Empoli and Napoli, and he’ll look to do the same at Stamford Bridge from this season onwards.

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In order to do that, he added Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic to his squad this summer, with both players boasting the technical quality required to fit into his ideas and help implement that expansive style of play.

While Tiemoue Bakayoko has since left, securing a loan move to AC Milan, it appears as though he may not be the only midfielder who faces the axe from Sarri as Chelsea’s Drinkwater is reportedly also set to be moved on.

According to The Daily Star, Sarri is said to not be standing in the way of an exit with time still remaining for most European clubs to make a move given the transfer deadline is still open for most until the end of the month as opposed to business closing in England last week.

As per BBC Sport, Chelsea spent £35m last summer to sign Drinkwater from Leicester City after he had played a fundamental role in their title success. It had seemed like a smart move for both parties at the time, but through a combination of injury woes and a lack of regular football, his influence at Stamford Bridge has never been established.

In turn, he now finds himself in a difficult situation with an exit touted, and so it remains to be seen if a challenge in Europe appeals to him, or if he opts to stay at Chelsea for the time being to try and force his way into Sarri’s plans and if that fails, perhaps seek an exit in January or next summer.

With the benefit of hindsight, the 28-year-old arguably shouldn’t have left Leicester, but he’ll have undoubtedly learnt a lot while at Chelsea even if he hasn’t played as often as he would have liked.

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