Danny Drinkwater closing in on latest Chelsea exit
By Tom Gott
Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater is believed to have agreed to join Turkish side Kasimpasa on loan until the end of the season.
A £35m signing back in 2017, Drinkwater has not played for Chelsea since the 2018/19 Community Shield and has failed to impress during loan spells with both Burnley and Aston Villa.
Chelsea were unable to find anybody to sign Drinkwater during the summer, leaving the 30-year-old stuck in the reserves. His stock took yet another blow when he butted heads with 16-year-old Tottenham midfielder Alfie Devine and was sent off for sparking a brawl.
The Blues are expected to focus on offloading players in the January transfer window, and unsurprisingly, Drinkwater is near the top of the list.
According to beIN Sports Turkey, a six-month loan to Kasimpasa has already been agreed.
That report was later echoed by the Daily Mail, who don't commit to the idea of a done deal just yet. Instead, the belief is that Chelsea are pushing to get the deal done and Drinkwater is still considering his options.
Chelsea know they are likely to make an enormous loss on Drinkwater, but the hope is that they can at least recover some of their £35m investment before his contract expires in 18 months.
Having said all this, Goal's Nizaar Kinsella has dismissed the idea of an imminent exit for Drinkwater, insisting the Chelsea outcast most likely to leave is Brazilian Lucas Piazon.
The 26-year-old winger is Chelsea's longest serving player, having joined the club in 2012, but he has been out on loan seven times. His most recent spell has been with Portuguese side Rio Ave, but that deal is understood to have been terminated six months early.
Piazon has six months remaining on his contract, and while Chelsea do have the option to extend it by a further year, they are expected to offload him permanently this month. Tuttomercatoweb name Bordeaux, Norwich City and Stoke City as the three main suitors.
Left-back Baba Rahman is also in talks over his own six-month loan with two overseas clubs, with Chelsea hopeful of seeing the Ghanaian prove his fitness ahead of a permanent summer exit.
The 26-year-old managed just three senior appearances last season on loan with Mallorca, where he suffered a nasty knee injury early in the campaign which has plagued him ever since.