Aston Villa have been transformed since the arrival of Unai Emery, as the Spaniard has stamped a clear target of progression on Villa Park as highlighted during his first term as manager.
The former Arsenal boss took the squad he inherited from Steven Gerrard from 16th place in the Premier League table to seventh, subsequently earning the club a place in European competition for the first time since 2010.
It’s not always been plain sailing for the Villans, and there’s still a long way to go in terms of their progression under Emery, with the recent success stemming from a period of mediocrity after their promotion in 2019.
Dean Smith was the man in charge of the Midlands outfit when they sealed their return to the top flight, in what was a high in his tenure at Villa Park, which was also tainted with plenty of low points.
One area that the former Leicester City boss was questioned over was his recruitment, with not many market moves as damning as the 2020 loan move for Danny Drinkwater from Chelsea.
How much did Danny Drinkwater cost Aston Villa?
During his half-season loan at Villa Park, the two-time Premier League winner was poised to revive his career after falling off quickly after his move to west London from Leicester in 2017.
Following his arrival, Smith was quick to back the midfielder who had fallen from grace, advising the media that he would make Villa a “better team”, which couldn’t have been further from reality.
Prior to his move, Chelsea hoped that the Villans would pay the full amount of Drinkwater’s £110k-per-week wages, which was negotiated and turned down by the Midlands club, who agreed to pay a fraction of the weekly fee, via The Athletic.
As per Capology, Villa spent £60k per week to keep the Englishman at the club, making him their second-highest earner at the time, amounting to a total of £1.5m in wages for the total number of weeks that he was on their payroll.
What’s more alarming is when you divide the total NSWE spent on the dud’s wage packet by the number of appearances he actually made, it turns out Villa handed him a damning £375k-per-appearance.
Was Danny Drinkwater worth the money?
In the 25 weeks that Drinkwater was at Villa, he made just four appearances, before becoming an outcast due to a bizarre training ground brawl with Jota and his struggles to stay fit.
The 33-year-old, who is nowithout a club, branded his time at Villa Park as “embarrassing”, which is a fair judgement for the money and effort spent to welcome him to the fold after his exclusion at Stamford Bridge.
When he did play, things weren’t much better, with journalist Ashley Preece previously describing the midfielder’s performances as “sloppy”, as he failed to replicate the searing form he showed during Leicester’s title-winning season in 2015/16.
Where is Danny Drinkwater now?
Since leaving Villa, the former England international has undergone failed loan spells at Turkish side Kasimpasa and Reading, with his current transfer value sitting at under £100k, epitomising his fall from the nest.
Four appearances, £1.5m in wages and assaulting his teammate, NSWE were rinsed by Drinkwater, whose legacy during his short time at Villa will be remembered for his misconduct and overall decline.