The Chelsea legend was ready to move back to Marseille after only one season in the Premier League
Didier Drogba retired from football for good today after a remarkable career that included four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and of course, one unforgettable Champions League.
It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always plain sailing for the Ivorian, despite the Roy of the Rovers-style heroics in Munich in 2012.
After joining Chelsea for £24 million in 2004, Drogba won the first of his collection of league titles under the then comparatively baby-faced José Mourinho. It proved a somewhat difficult first season in England, however.
Despite scoring the first of his many cup final goals in an extra-time League Cup win over Liverpool, Drogba wasn’t happy with his personal return of 10 goals in the Premier League, despite Chelsea claiming the league for only the second time in the club’s history.
Speaking to the Mirror’s John Cross, Drogba has now opened up about his early struggles.
“There was a time after the first season I was looking for that comfort zone, which means going back to Marseille to be the only striker with the team playing for you.
“Now I had arrived at a team where even the centre-back had scored 10 or 15 goals in the season. Suddenly I thought, ‘Wow, where is my place here?’” he said.
Fortunately for the Blues’ sake, José Mourinho intervened and according to the striker, entirely changed his perception of the team.
Mourinho taking a deep, long sniff of Didier Drogba one last time“And then I heard Mourinho saying something really interesting to me and the team. He was talking about the players. He was saying, ‘You know, if you want to be the only king, then go back to the team that you were playing and scoring for. Go back there.
“‘But here, there’s 22 kings. So you accept it, work together, or you go — go back to where you came from and be the only king where everybody is behind you,'” Drogba explained.
After that, it never bothered Didier that he wasn’t the most prolific striker (bar a devastating 09/10 Premier League season in which he bagged a ludicrous 29 goals in only 32 games). He was completely selfless in his holdup play, which was arguably the best the Premier League had ever seen, and he always scored when it really mattered anyway. That’s what Chelsea fans will remember.
Indeed, even if you’re not a supporter, the gigantic near-post header against Bayern Munich and then the nerveless final penalty, the sign of the cross, and the bewildered, emotional, looped run towards Petr Cech will live long in the memory.
Fuck it. Let’s watch it again.
https://youtu.be/lDWgTW87W5I?t=627
We’ll miss you, Didi. Thanks for sticking around.
