It was the morning after the night before. The night Leicester had stumbled, two points dropped at home to West Bromwich Albion. Yet Danny Drinkwater didn’t look greatly disheartened. He didn’t even know that the chasing pack were all a few hours away from losing, as he tucked into a toasted wholemeal sandwich for breakfast.

There was a meeting with manager Claudio Ranieri scheduled for 10am, but just five minutes set aside for it. Not much of an inquest, five minutes. Drinkwater half-knew what he would hear, too. Ranieri would emphasise the importance of Saturday's match at Watford and nothing more.

If he thought an individual was not concentrating he might ring one of the little bells he handed out to the squad at Christmas. Nobody would leave tense, nobody would be weighed down by the journey ahead.

Danny Drinkwater is one of several players with a point to prove at surprise league leaders Leicester

The Foxes midfielder celebrates scoring before his side's opener before being held to a draw by West Brom

Drinkwater (red mask) was one of four Ninja Turtles, along with Matty James, Ben Hamer and Andy King, at Leicester's Christmas fancy dress party

DRINKWATER IN PREMIER LEAGUE Appearances: 26 Goals scored: 2 Shot accuracy: 38% Chances created: 35 Pass accuracy: 78% Duels won: 42% Yellow/red cards: 2/0 Advertisement

For a team who are supposed to be on the brink of cracking up, Leicester seemed very relaxed. Wednesday was a mild warm-down, Thursday, Ranieri had prescribed a day off. ‘He does that if he thinks we’re tired,’ said Drinkwater. ‘A lot of managers wouldn’t.’

Some of the players had remained up until the bar closed at the Marriott Hotel the night of the West Brom game. Nothing rowdy, just a couple of rounds and a chat, as workers do. And Leicester are a team of workers.

There is not a player in Ranieri’s squad who has not had to graft to overcome professional adversity, or is without a point to prove. Released by bigger clubs, overlooked in the lower leagues, when Leicester’s players dressed ironically as superheroes for their Christmas party in Copenhagen, it somehow summed up the ego-less nature of this incredible campaign.

Drinkwater was one of four Mutant Ninja Turtles, along with Matty James, Ben Hamer and Andy King. He was the red one, Raphael. Robert Huth was Batman, Jamie Vardy a white Power Ranger. Dressing up as turtles won’t win a team the league, but staying together might.

‘It has its benefits,’ added Drinkwater. ‘I don’t think Cristiano Ronaldo could get away with being a turtle, but we’re a normal group of lads. It fits our bill.’

Not a lot is known about Drinkwater, one of the mainstays of Leicester’s reversal of expectations over the last year and now on the verge of an England call-up. He is happy for it to stay that way. He doesn’t do interviews, as a rule, sharing the view of Paul Scholes that they are a distraction. ‘He didn’t do them, and he was the sickest midfielder ever — so I thought, “I’ll copy him”,’ says Drinkwater.

The 25-year-old began his career in Manchester United's academy before finding himself at the KP Stadium

Matty James (left) and Danny Simpson are two other former United youngsters making a living at Leicester

LEICESTER'S TITLE RUN-IN March 5: Watford (a) March 14: Newcastle United (h) March 19: Crystal Palace (a) April 2: Southampton (h) April 9: Sunderland (a) April 16: West Ham (h) April 23: Swansea City (h) April 30: Manchester United (a) May 7: Everton (h) May 15: Chelsea (a) Advertisement

It leaves a lot of catching up to do. Where he comes from, where he’s at, and how Manchester United came to miss out on a midfield player they had nurtured and is now powering the most unlikely title challenge in history.

Drinkwater is from Broadheath estate in Altrincham, played football for Unicorn Athletic Juniors and left the Altrincham College of Arts in Timperley with nine GCSEs. He played his first football on the estate — ‘it was everything you enjoyed, right down to using the half-popped balls’ — and was spotted by Manchester United at a kids’ soccer school, aged seven.

He went for academy trials with another boy from Broadheath, who didn’t seem to enjoy the training much. Drinkwater loved it. When he revisited his old school to open a new 3G pitch, he told the pupils he had no idea what he would do if he wasn’t a professional footballer. Yet he nearly wasn’t.

Drinkwater’s Manchester United class reached the 2007 FA Youth Cup final, losing on penalties to Liverpool, but a brief round of ‘where are they now’ finds them in some remote places — Oldham, Derry, York, Ross County, Iceland, Thailand, Skelmersdale. Those, Drinkwater says, are the luckier ones. Others have fallen out of the game and he could have gone the same way.

Marcus Rashford (left) is the latest youngster to make the breakthrough at Old Trafford

Drinkwater poses with team-mates before winning the 2007 FA Youth Cup final vs Liverpool - Back row (L-R): Richard Eckersley, James Chester, Ron-Robert Zieler, Drinkwater, Danny Welbeck, Kenny Strickland, Febian Brandy. Front row (L-R): Corry Evans, Sam Hewson, Daniel Galbraith, Chris Fagan

WHERE ARE MANCHESTER UNITED'S 2007 FA YOUTH CUP XI NOW? 1 Ron-Robert Zieler (Goalkeeper, Hannover 96) 2 Richard Eckersley (Defender, Oldham Athletic) 3 Corry Evans (Defender, Blackburn) 4 Kenny Strickland (Defender, Skelmersdale United) 5 James Chester (Defender, West Brom) 6 Danny Drinkwater (Midfielder, Leicester) 7 Danny Welbeck (Forward, Arsenal) 14 Sam Hewson (Midfielder, FH) 9 Febian Brandy (Forward, Ubon UMT Limited) 10 Chris Fagan (Forward, St Patricks Athletic) 11 Danny Galbraith (Midfielder, York City) Advertisement

‘I played with Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, James Chester — it was a good group,’ he says. ‘But there are some guys, some of them friends, who don’t play league football any more. They play in the Sunday leagues, which is unfortunate. I know that could have been me.

‘I didn’t have as good an attitude as I should have. If someone else got an opportunity, I’d question it, rather than knuckling down.

‘But you learn an awful lot when you see other players falling out of football. I still speak to a few of those boys now and you can sense the disappointment in them.

‘Making a breakthrough at the big clubs, a lot of it is down to luck with your timing. Now is a great time to be at United as a youngster because there are injuries, so you’ve got guys like Marcus Rashford getting his chance — and look what he’s doing. We had a good team, but it didn’t work out for quite a few of us, really. I left when I was 21, but I’d been on loan since I was 18. Huddersfield, Cardiff, Watford, Barnsley.

‘The moment I heard they had accepted a bid from Leicester I knew it was over. I’d just signed a new deal and then, a week later, Leicester came in. It was Barnsley who told me the deal was done. I’d been 13 years with United but I didn’t even spend another full day back there. I got some things and I was gone.

Drinkwater spent a series of loan spells at smaller clubs before finding out at Barnsley that he was being sold

Drinkwater was signed by ex-Leicester boss Nigel Pearson and helped win promotion from the Championship

The midfielder, who has been linked with a first England call, enjoys a training session under Claudio Ranieri

‘Initially, it hurt. I was gutted. But it wasn’t as if I was leaving for a proper lower-league side. I looked at the Championship table and Leicester were mid to bottom — but the owners had just taken over, Nigel Pearson was new in the job, so you could see the potential.

‘When I’d gone out on loan before it was always there in the back of my mind, that I could go back to United. If you got injured, you had United to return to — with the best facilities, the best of everything. You’ve got that safety net — and now it was gone. But not having it changed me.

‘Going to Leicester, suddenly, football was just my living. This was the way I was going to support my family. That is when I started to mature as a player. I wanted to make a difference at Leicester and it was something I needed, to be more focused.

‘I’ve worked my socks off to get here now. I’m not blaming Manchester United. I had lessons on what was needed to succeed hammered into me at their academy. Loads of players have gone on from there — but it needed bringing out in me. If you can knuckle down somewhere else, I’d say go and do it. Once I got to Leicester, I just wanted to prove myself.’

It’s fair to say he has done that. Does he crow? ‘Not really,’ he adds. ‘I’ve always supported United, but I guess there’s a part of me that wants to prove people wrong. So if there’s someone at Manchester United thinking, “We shouldn’t have got rid of him” then that’s credit to me.

Drinkwater admits there is part of him that wants to prove Manchester United wrong for letting him leave

The former United graduate has 'worked his socks' off to make a difference at Leicester

Team spirit in the Leicester dressing room is a major contributing factor to their unexpected success

‘Leaving Manchester United was a big step, but I wouldn’t change growing up there as a kid. It was something every lad dreams of and I learned a hell of a lot.’

He is not the only Leicester player on the rebound from Old Trafford. There are Matty James and Danny Simpson, too. Everyone at Leicester seems to be on the rebound from somewhere. Marc Albrighton from Aston Villa, Kasper Schmeichel from Manchester City, Robert Huth from Stoke, Jamie Vardy from the entire Football League, at one stage.

‘I think that’s what makes the team so tight, that we’ve all got a point to prove,’ adds Drinkwater. ‘You take Marc Albrighton, such a huge part of our team and Aston Villa let him go. It’s bonkers. You can see how good a player he is. I think it’s a credit to us that teams really prepare to play Leicester now.

‘I think credit to the manager, too, because he saw what he had when he took over. Nigel Pearson brought the core of the club in, but Ranieri kept that momentum going. He kept what was good about us, but added stuff. He made us better. A lot of hard work goes into how we play, tactically. He is the reason we score so many goals on the counter.

Ranieiri's tactical nous is the main reason that Leicester score so many goals on the counter-attack

Drinkwater jokes that the only reason he still looks at United results is 'to make sure they're not catching us'

‘He keeps us relaxed. He has a way of making us laugh in meetings. If he sees someone not concentrating, he’ll say “Dilla-ding, dilla-dong”, like ringing a bell and it cracks everyone up. He bought us all little bells at Christmas. He’s just funny. A pleasure to work for. When we saw who we were getting, he was a big name in football and that felt exciting.

‘I suppose the only negative thought that popped in my head was that he might sign 20 Italians, and we wouldn’t get a look in. But he was happy with us and I hope he thinks we’ve paid him back, too. I think it’s crazy what we’ve done.’

Drinkwater still lives south of Manchester and still looks for United’s results every week, but not out of wistfulness. ‘Just to make sure they’re not catching us,’ he smiles.