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Danny Drinkwater believes competition in Manchester United 's midfield was so intense he had no choice but to leave the club.

Leicester midfielder Drinkwater, 26, received his maiden England call-up for this month's friendlies against Germany and the Netherlands and could go on to lift the Premier League trophy in May.

Manchester-born Drinkwater was at United for 13 years before he was sold to Leicester in 2012, having spent spells on loan at Huddersfield, Cardiff, Watford and Barnsley.

United had not signed a central midfielder in five years when Drinkwater left the club, however Paul Scholes had come out of retirement in early 2012, a decision that convinced Paul Pogba to depart that summer.

"I played United’s reserves for a few years and I wanted to take that next step, which was a loan move," Drinkwater told reporters at St George's Park.

"I spent two years out in total and I didn’t really want to go back into the reserves and dip in and out of the first team. I wanted to play.

"People like Paul Scholes were in my way at United — what are you going to do with that?

"You just look at him as an idol. I have watched him since I was a little kid. I couldn’t have had a much better teacher.”

Gary Neville, club captain when Drinkwater was in the youth team, opined the 26-year-old 'lacked focus' at United, however he has become one of a number of former Reds to thrive at Leicester .

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Tom Cleverley enjoyed a fruitful loan at the League One club in 2009 and England international Drinkwater's teammates at King Power Stadium include Danny Simpson and Matty James, while Ritchie de Laet is on loan at Middlesbrough.

"Probably leaving United was the lowest point. I supported them, it was my childhood club," Drinkwater added.

"I was on loan at Barnsley, United accepted an offer and that was it. I just had to concentrate on my new club. It was a low, but look what has come of it.

"It was never a case of thinking, ‘Could I get back up to that stage?’, it was, 'Get your head down, work hard and see what happens.' You can always have self-belief, but leaving a club like United was huge – look where we are now though."