Didier Drogba may well be on his way back to west London. Liverpool, Juventus and Chelsea are all reportedly interested in the 36 year-old Ivorian.
In a recent broadcast on the official Galatasary TV station, Drogba said: “Galatasary will always be in my heart. I’m very proud to have represented this team”, hinting that he may be leaving this summer, despite the Turkish club offering him a new one-year contract.
Drogba, if used sparingly, could be a good addition to Chelsea’s squad. Without question he cannot be used in the same manner he was during his first Chelsea spell. Personally, though, I am not convinced of the merits of re-signing Drogba.
Against Chelsea, in the Champions League second-round this season, Drogba was not the bulldozing beast of a centre-forward who terrorised Premier League defences for eight seasons. The spark was just not there, and he looked to be a player suited for a league such as the Super Lig, not the Premier League. Chelsea’s defence looked fairly comfortable against him. The signing of Drogba seems like a reluctance to move on from the Chelsea of old, dare I say a step back, or at least a tentative step of no movement at all.
Chelsea should look to improve their squad by signing proven top-quality footballers with at least a few years of football ahead of them. The tricky, tireless Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi would be a great signing, as would Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic. The combination of such players with the youth already in Chelsea’s squad would be a recipe for success.
Re-signing Drogba is questionable at the very least. On a purely sentimental level, the yearning to have Didier Drogba back at Stamford Bridge is understandable. After all, he was voted Chelsea’s greatest ever player! The romantic reunion of legend with club is often not the fairytale people hoped for. Does anybody remember Robbie Fowler returning to Liverpool? Should Drogba be re-signed and have a tough second spell at Chelsea, it would seem like a tarnishing of the Chelsea legend he is. Didier is a Chelsea legend, but he was a part of a different Chelsea side, a different Chelsea era, and I believe it should remain that way.
Well said.