The former Leicester City player was shipped off in August.

He will now head back to Chelsea when his loan deal officially expires on 6 January.

Danny Drinkwater will return to Chelsea this month after making just two appearances for Burnley since joining on loan. Clarets boss Sean Dyche confirmed at a news conference on Friday that the midfielder would be heading back to Stamford Bridge.

Drinkwater played just once in the Premier League for Burnley, in the 4-1 home defeat to Manchester City on 3 December, having also started the 3-1 home loss to Sunderland in the EFL Cup in August. The 29-year-old said it was “time to get my career back on track” when he signed a deal with Burnley that expires on 6 January.

However, Drinkwater struggled to break into Burnley’s first-team plans and he suffered an ankle injury during an alleged altercation outside a Manchester nightclub in September, further curtailing his attempt to rejuvenate his career. “He just hasn’t had the pitch-time,” said Burnley manager Dyche. “Obviously there was a moment in between when we had injuries where he probably would have played, but these things happen in football.”

Dyche said the nightclub incident had prevented Drinkwater from making his mark in Lancashire: “He has been a credit to himself with the way his professionalism has been, other than the incident. The way he’s recovered from that, the way he has looked after himself, he has tried to be part of the group.

“We just haven’t got him as much game-time as what he wanted, and what he needs as well. But I like him a lot, I like him as a player and a character and I wish him well. The incident was unfortunate, it cost us a lot more time than we thought – us and him, of course – and in that time we got reasonably good value from the team with points on the board.”

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