‘It surprised me’: Danny Drinkwater makes claim about Aston Villa after retiring today

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Danny Drinkwater has now admitted his regret at how his time at Aston Villa played out after announcing his retirement today.

Drinkwater was speaking on ‘The High Performance Podcast’ and said he did have regrets over his time at Aston Villa.

The midfielder explained that the club felt like a very nice fit from the off, but said he was rushed into minutes far too quickly. 

Drinkwater then explained that he was trying too hard to get into his best shape at Aston Villa.

He said: “That’s one club I wish went different, Villa. From the moment I walked in it surprised me. It felt almost similar to Leicester, so I was like come on. 

“Finally a club where I feel like I can kick on a bit. The manager was Dean Smith at the time, he chucked me straight in, but I was nowhere near ready.

“I was miles off it to be honest. Debut was stinking. Two of three games later I was still stinking.

“I was out of games for a year and a half so the speed felt way too quick.

“I was thinking it’s got away from me here, so I ended up doing way too much physical work than what I should be doing.”

Danny Drinkwater says he wish things had gone differently at Aston Villa

Retiring at 33-years-old, Drinkwater ended up making just four appearances for Aston Villa during the 20/21 season.

And it really has been disappointing to see Drinkwater fail to build upon his monumental success at Leicester City ever since.

The midfielder was a somewhat understated part of Leicester’s title win, but it simply didn’t work out for him elsewhere.

And speaking of underrated midfielders, Paul Merson thinks that Aston Villa currently have one of their own.

Despite his constant links to the likes of Arsenal, Merson still thinks that Douglas Luiz is massively underrated at Villa. 

And the pundit does believe that several clubs will be interested come January.

Although, it would surely take a lot to tempt the Brazilian away from this Villa project right now.

Danny Drinkwater may be disappointed that his time at Aston Villa didn’t turn out differently, but he must now be very excited to watch the journey the club are on.