Former Leicester City star responds to photo of him working on a building site

A former Premier League midfielder has directly addressed the hate after posting photos of him working on a building site.

After retiring from football altogether in October 2023, the former Chelsea and Aston Villa man has had a quiet time on the whole, but his latest Instagram post has seemingly put the 34-year-old back in the limelight.

He last played for Reading in a loan spell during the 2021/22 campaign, with his career slowly petering out following a number of off-field issues.

The former midfield enforcer is now back in the spotlight after he posted some photos of him on a building site on social media with the caption: “On site today.”

Sharing his new hands-on employment with his 585,000 followers proved to be a mistake, as he received some negative comments which he chose to respond to on his story.

One user said: “F***ing hell Danny you’ve hit rock bottom,”

And Drinkwater replied saying: “Some of these messages, behave. I love being on site grafting! It’s a choice.”

The former Leicester star has previously opened up about his mental health issues, after being charged for drink-driving and being attacked outside a nightclub, which resulted in ankle ligament damage.

After his retirement, he tried his hand at some business ventures, though it was reported by The Sun in November that he had lost £782,000 from a failed restaurant in Manchester, which went bankrupt after accumulating £2 million in debt.

Drinkwater bought a 70 percent stake in a different restaurant too, which has since shut for good.

The Manchester-born Premier League winner admitted he’s still finding his feet since retirement, saying in 2023: “Anyone who thinks earning good money will solve all of your problems is not true at all.

“Mental health is more important than physical. It was the darkest I’d ever felt,” he admitted.

Drinkwater also appeared on the High Performance Podcast in October last year, revealing: “I think I’ve been in limbo for too long, I’ve either been wanting to play but not getting the opportunities to play at a level where I felt valued.

“I just thought I’m restless here for no reason, I’m happy not playing football, but I’m happy playing football, so do I just shake hands with the sport?

“It’s all I’ve known, it’s been my life since I was six or seven, it was never going to be an easy thing. I think the way it’s died down has definitely helped.

“If I was playing week in, week out and had to stop through injury or age I think it would be trickier. I’ve had quite a few offers from Championship clubs, but I never felt the burn, it did nothing for me,” the former Blue explained.