Drogba won so much, but his talent deserved so much more
DURING his nine seasons at Chelsea, Didier Drogba helped his club win four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and, most gloriously of all perhaps, a Champions League.
And, in that time, he scored 164 goals in 382 games, leading the line with a tireless, selfless brand of centre-forward play.
In the Premier League, he was the top scorer in 2006-07 and in 2009-10. He topped the table for assists in 2005-06.
Drogba was never voted Premier League Player of the Month.
Not once.
He made the PFA Team of the Year twice, but that was about it.
As he announced his retirement from professional football, handsome tributes were paid, particularly from former team-mates.
“Unbelievable player and person,” tweeted Petr Cech.
Yet Drogba, (right, with the 2012 FA Cup after beating Liverpool) will still go down as one of the most underrated strikers the English game has seen. His goal ratio was very good, without being spectacular, but his all-round contribution to Chelsea’s success was unrivalled.
His finest hour was against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final of 2012 when, first, he headed Chelsea level late on and, then, scored the decisive penalty in the shootout.
He was named Man of the Match, but that was a rare individual award.
Towards the end of the 2013-14 season, Yaya Toure – who, incidentally, also failed to win a Player of the Month award in his stellar Premier League time – caused a bit of a stir when he suggested African players do not always get the credit they deserve.
As you look back on
Drogba’s magnificent career, Yaya might have had a point after all.
By their very nature, only one person can win an individual award and every era has sublime talents.
Drogba’s peak years coincided with the emphatic emergence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
But he never once made the top three in the voting for the Ballon d’or. The closest he came was when finishing fourth behind Ronaldo, Messi and 2007 winner Kaka. In 2006, when Drogba was voted eighth, Fabio Cannavaro collected the accolade.
Whether or not you agree with the view held by Yaya Toure four years ago, it is too easy to remember Drogba purely for his strength and his physical ability to unsettle defenders, too easy to pigeon-hole him for his power. He was an extremely gifted footballer, although prone to the odd bout of simulation and overreaction for which he was rightly criticised. Away from the field, he began his charitable work in 2007, particularly helping the disadvantaged in his native Ivory Coast, the country he represented on 104 occasions, scoring 65 goals.
Now 40, Drogba has been seeing out his playing days as striker-owner at USL League team Phoenix Rising and his retirement from the game is hardly a surprise.
But it gives the sport an opportunity to pay tribute to a player never fully appreciated during his time here.
Four years ago, Jose Mourinho said this about Drogba: “I have always refused to say which is my favourite player or the best person, because so many have given soul and blood to play and to fight with me, but, if I have to choose one who represents all the good things you want in a player and a man, I think in this moment I would choose Didier.”
They are the sort of words that make up for any lack of individual recognition.
And Drogba deserves them.
QUOTE of the week belongs to Tyson Fury, speaking to an American broadcaster ahead of his fight with Deontay Wilder.
“In England, we have pints of beer. It’s like a big thing… I used to drink 20 of them, like four or five times a week.” If he was downing the pints anywhere near London, no wonder he needs a decent comeback cheque.