Chelsea quietly letting the door close behind Ross Barkley and Drinkwater

Chelsea’s turn to young English players did not reverse Ross Barkley’s and Danny Drinkwater’s fortunes at the club. The two are moving towards the exit as all involved need to focus on their futures.

As they falter on their current career path with Chelsea, Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley are brothers in arms. Given their nationality, they epitomise and manifest the term “homegrown.” They ought to be at the very top of their game, but somehow they are treading water.

There’s a premium on the value of good quality English players, because of that homegrown attribute. However, as this pair struggles, the club itself have somehow, either through bad management or bad recruitment, completely screwed this one up.

If Ross Barkley doesn’t make the starting XI against Nottingham Forest on Sunday it will be a clear sign that his injury-truncated start against Newcastle on October 19 was his last game for the Blues. A non-appearance will keep him from being cup-tied should a move away materialise.

After he eventually made the move to London from Everton, following a long spell on the sidelines, Blues fans hoped he’d be able to regain some of the good form he displayed during his early Toffee years.

Like Barkley, Drinkwater arrived in SW6 recovering from injury. As a Premier League winner with Leicester City the previous season, Drinkwater’s transfer fee was somewhat inflated. Joining up with his former midfield partner, N’Golo Kante, the future was supposed to have been bright.

However, the niggling injuries continued throughout the first part of the 2016/17 season. When he was eventually fit and available, Antonio Conte was reluctant to pick him.

With time to kill, the two players have made headlines for the wrong reasons. Barkley has persevered in trying to resurrect his Chelsea career by staying put, however Frank Lampard clearly doesn’t trust him in his team. Drinkwater became a part of the club’s loan army, moving up to Burnley at the beginning of this season. But there, too, he has failed to make the grade. It seems he’ll be heading south to once again join Barkley as co-chair of the players’ social club.

It’s sad that it’s not worked out as planned for the two England internationals. It’s sad that they spend their days simply waiting for the pay cheque to hit their bank accounts. Chelsea have proved to be very astute in their recent transfer dealings and hopefully they have already learnt sufficient lessons from both signings.

The time to cut and run may have come for all concerned. Clearly, both are not Chelsea material, deemed not to be proper Chels by several managers, and it’s now time to move on.

The longer the two stay at the club, the most they can offer is a future of diminishing returns at a time when the club are focusing more than ever on building a real future.