Starting his career at Manchester United’s academy, Drinkwater’s development took on stock in League One when, as a 19-year-old, he joined Huddersfield Town on loan for the season.
Under Lee Clark, the central midfielder got his first taste of professional football making 37 appearances and watched on as his good work was finished off by striker Jordan Rhodes.
The Terriers would go on to reach the play-offs that season by finishing sixth in the table, but their season would be ended one stop short of Wembley when Millwall won 2-0 at The Den after holding Drinkwater and co. to a goalless deadlock in the first leg.
Loans with Cardiff, Watford and Barnsley followed, whereupon he joined Leicester City in January 2012 for £500,000 and went all the way to the Premier League under Nigel Pearson, being winning the title under Claudio Ranieri.
Securing a move to Chelsea in a deal worth a total of £35m, the midfield partnership of Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante which proved so successful is now free to lead Chelsea into the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League.
As the competition reaching it’s closing stages check out these UEFA Odds
Soccer Football – Champions League – Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid – Stamford Bridge, London, Britain – December 5, 2017 Chelsea’s Danny Drinkwater and Antonio Rudiger during the warm up before the match Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
Dele Alli – MK Dons
Not only has Dele Alli been playing all the way through to the last 16 of the Champions League, he’s also set to board the plane to Russia this summer when the Three Lions seek their first successful tournament since 1990.
A far cry from the infancy of his career spent at MK Dons, where he was a teenage first-team regular who averaged one goal almost every three matches he played.
Goal-scoring exploits which saw him swap Buckinghamshire for the white half of north London in a £5m move in 2015.
Alli and Spurs march on into the second leg at Wembley with an away-goal advantage over Juventus, after fighting back from 2-0 down in Turin to earn a draw thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen.
Jamie Hopcutt – York City
Ostersunds, you may not have heard of the Swedish Allsvenskan side until they were drawn to play Arsenal in the UEFA Europa League, but they have a distinctly English feel to their squad.
Managed by coach Graham Potter, there are three Englishman representing Ostersunds and that includes former York City forward Jamie Hopcutt who moved to Sweden back in 2012.
After leaving the Minstermen, the 25-year-old moved deeper down the Non-League pyramid playing for Ossett Town and Tadcaster Albion among others.
But the highlight of his five years in the small city was reached this season when beating Arsenal 2-1 in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League.
