Chelsea are set to open their Europa League account this season with an away game against PAOK FC on Thursday and the game will be devoid of one England international, surprisingly.
The Blues submitted their squad for the first half of the season for the Europa League and Danny Drinkwater was missing from the list. The midfielder is expected to have a tough season but this latest development at Stamford Bridge makes his future at the club even more difficult to predict.
With Maurizio Sarri opting for the 4-3-3 formation that sees Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic occupy the spots in the starting 11. That reduces Drinkwater to either a bench role or totally out of matchday squads, but being eliminated from the entire tournament squad list means he would now miss European games as well as several Premier League games when Cesc Fabregas and Ross Barkley are fit to support the aforementioned trio.
Drinkwater might have to contend with just Carabao Cup and FA Cup games this season if he stays beyond the January transfer window.
