Chelsea: Barkley should fare better than Drinkwater at Aston Villa

As Ross Barkley embarks on his new adventure at Aston Villa, painful memories of Chelsea teammate Danny Drinkwater’s demise resurface.

Under the cover of darkness, Ross Barkley quietly packed his bags and exited out of the Stamford Bridge back door. In the blink of an eye, he was unveiled as an Aston Villa player on Wednesday afternoon, joining Dean Smith’s side silently on loan for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.

Barkley will appreciate the hushed nature of the deal, leaving the loud noises for his performances on the pitch, rather than the distractions off it. Having never quite established himself as a permanent fixture in the Blues set-up since joining from Everton two years ago, the frustrating talent now has an opportunity to prove to Frank Lampard he is worthy of the fabled No. 8 jersey that he too once wore.

Dealings between Chelsea and Villa are nothing new, having shared the leadership of John Terry, the craft of Joe Cole, the steel of Gary Cahill and the disappointing duo of Steve Sidwell and Scott Sinclair. But none have mirrored Barkley’s move quite like Danny Drinkwater. England has a knack of breeding genuinely excellent players who, for a variety of factors, never fully fulfill their potential. Barkley has been trying to shake off this burden ever since he broke through on Merseyside. Fortunately for him, he has a fantastic opening to demonstrate his capability in a Villa team who are on a seemingly upward trajectory. Unfortunately, Drinkwater’s ship has sadly sunk to the bottom of the footballing ocean.

Like his fellow English midfielder, Drinkwater arrived at Villa Park after a disappointingly brief spell at Burnley, knowing this was last chance saloon to salvage an overall well-established career. Having been an integral part of Leicester City’s utterly improbable title miracle of 2015/16, his transfer to Chelsea was nothing short of a nightmare. A culmination of crippling injuries, personal issues, managerial distrust and changing of clubs ensured Drinkwater would amass a mere 29 appearances since the £35 million Leicester accepted from Chelsea in 2017.

22 of those were during his first campaign in a Chelsea strip, but was instantly frozen out by the sub-zero temper of Maurizio Sarri. The snowball of sorrow picked up speed; his loan to Turf Moor coincided with an altercation outside of a night club, whereas his tenure at Villa was cut short due to a training ground row with teammate Jota. He also suffered a drink driving charge last May, completing the bingo of footballing avoidances.

Barkley has also endured “outside of work hours” issues; footage emerged of the Liverpudlian being attacked in a bar and on a separate occasion, was seen topless in a club, causing his removal from Chelsea’s traveling Champions League squad to face Valencia. It has not all been doom and gloom for the English pairing. Both thrived at their respective clubs before Chelsea. Barkley was consecutively named Everton’s Young of the Player in 2012/13 and 2013/14, whereas Drinkwater was the Foxes Player of the Year when they won the Championship in 2014.

A new dawn was meant to arise in their new shade of blue. For Drinkwater, it has been nothing but a blackout. For Barkley, there have been glimpses of light but ultimately, he has struggled to shine. It was pretty clear from the outside that neither were fully in favor with the manager, as Lampard looked to offload the homegrown duo.

Despite openly admitting to his mistakes and voicing his willingness to return, Drinkwater’s clock is nearing its countdown. Villa could have been the glass half-full moment. Instead, it spilled onto the floor in a sticky mess. Barkley has the same metaphor to live by, and for the sake of his reputation, Chelsea fans will hope he can make the glass half-full again and avoid the misgivings of his fellow countryman.