Drogba Talks About His Future

by Graham MacAree on Feb 17, 2012 6:45 PM GMT in Chelsea FC: Players

FLY ME TO CHINA, STEPHEN. FLY ME TO CHINA POST-HASTE.

There's some stuff going around about Chelsea players defending/not defending Andre Villas-Boas at the moment, and it's mostly pretty boring. Buried in one of those stories, however, which mostly consists of Didier Drogba giving his public support to the manager, is some news about where the striker will end up next season. It might not be China after all*!

*It strikes me that I've never mentioned the Drogba to Shanghai Shenhua at the end of the season rumours before. Now I have, so you're all caught up.

We are still talking about [a contract extension]. Everybody knows I love the club, everyone knows I want to stay so we are discussing it and let's see what comes out of the discussions. I'm optimistic it can happen but at the same time if it doesn't happen that's life. But you will never change the respect and the love we created together. My heart is blue.

-Didier Drogba. Source: ESPN Soccernet.

As you all(?) know, Drogba is out of contract this summer, and is widely expected to leave the club after so far failing to negotiate a contract extension. While this season has shown just how impotent the club is without Drogba around, attempting to resign a 33-year-old striker on the sort of wages Drogba can command might not be the best idea (it'd be around a 6M hit to our Financial Fair Play expenses too).

Honestly, I think China be a better place for Drogba to be than Chelsea. He's done virtually all he can for the club, and we're probably not going to get that Champions League medal we want until he's well past his retirement date. In Shanghai, he could relax a little bit while making a metric [fun]tonne of money, and the Blues will be in no way able to match what they could pay him. In light of the great opportunity Drogba can pursue if he does leave, that quote reads more like a goodbye than anything else.

In terms of our striker options, Drogba's departure leave us in a bit of a bind. Fernando Torres may once have been a world-class centre forward, but every poor game he has makes expecting him to return to his best look that much more delusional, and Romelu Lukaku's not ready. I'd also be leery of shelling out huge money for a centre forward when we have problems elsewhere, so the only reasonable solution from my perspective would be to move Daniel Sturridge infield.

So, I guess two questions.

Is Drogba leaving this summer?
What should we do about it if he does?

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Bittersweet

Drogba will always be a legend at Chelsea and Premier League history. Sad to see him go but this also allows us to put Sturridge in his natural position and put away what little rumor that he could transfer.

by SuperSturridge on Feb 17, 2012 6:54 PM GMT reply actions

Couldn't have been said better...

….by Danny himself. hehe. I think I agree, though. I was thinking I’d like Drogs to stick around another year, but I wasn’t paying attention to the financial aspect.

by ososdeoro on Feb 17, 2012 6:56 PM GMT up reply actions

How amazing would it be though if we do win the CL this season (0.1% chance) with the old guard.

by SuperSturridge on Feb 17, 2012 6:56 PM GMT reply actions

best caption

The Short Fuse--An Arsenal Blog

by Ted Harwood on Feb 17, 2012 7:01 PM GMT reply actions

Build a team around Torres

with Mata in hole, throw in a good RB & retain Romeu/ get creative Mid….. & most importantly, retain a SINGLE manager for 3 years at a stretch….

by prasadkoranne on Feb 17, 2012 7:11 PM GMT reply actions

I believe he is

I don’t want him to leave though. If only Chelsea could involve him with some kind of coaching for Lukaku, he needs to learn to use his size.

IF we steal 4th place away and all is good.
2. If Drogba does leave though I would like Danny moved in the middle or as striker in that 4-2-3-1 we never play right away. Bring in Hazard and Moura to play with our Hobbit where the can all interchange positions whenever they fell like it.

by nsleepy3 on Feb 17, 2012 7:13 PM GMT reply actions

EDINSON CAVANI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, pay whatever for him. He’s ridiculous.

by bsally on Feb 17, 2012 8:09 PM GMT reply actions

That'd be pretty fucking glorious.

by DPeezy on Feb 17, 2012 10:02 PM GMT up reply actions

i've never tried to do a backflip

but i would attempt one immediately

by dojothecat on Feb 18, 2012 3:47 AM GMT up reply actions

Yes, Drogba is leaving this summer

And we should keep the Torres experiment going, especially once we have more than one creative player on the team. If that continues to fail into next season, with more creative players, then move Sturridge to the middle. Please don’t spend any more money, especially not on strikers. That’s such a hot-and-cold position that it almost never makes sense to spend a lot of money on one.

by FootieFromAfar on Feb 17, 2012 8:47 PM GMT reply actions

Note: we should spend money on creativity and LB/RB

just not on central defensive players or strikers

by FootieFromAfar on Feb 17, 2012 8:48 PM GMT up reply actions

I agree on not spending on more central defenders

We have plenty and we seem to have some good kids in that position.

by nsleepy3 on Feb 17, 2012 8:52 PM GMT up reply actions

I love you, Didier

He’s probably leaving, and we should buy a striker or slide Sturridge over to accommodate for the loss of 11.

What we should not do is keep the Torres experiment going, because Torres sucks as a striker. Let’s not waste creative players on his useless behalf.

by cwel87 on Feb 17, 2012 8:56 PM GMT reply actions

one more season

Dider still has more more season at the highest level in him.

If only we could pay the Chinese enough to take Torres down there …

by Simon on Feb 18, 2012 6:55 AM GMT up reply actions

If Didier joins Nico at Shenhua, I might actually try to watch some of their games

Yey, marketing!

by DPeezy on Feb 17, 2012 10:03 PM GMT reply actions

Edinson Cavani

by danishchelsea on Feb 18, 2012 12:39 AM GMT via Android app reply actions

Cavani dream

Congrats guys, I just woke up and I dreamt of Cavani signing for the Blues, with him wearing the Chelsea Blue. Further information cannot be retrieved!

by Marcus_Cfc on Feb 18, 2012 2:38 AM GMT via Android app reply actions

Welcome back to the cold harsh reality of everyday life...

by DPeezy on Feb 18, 2012 3:14 AM GMT up reply actions

Thinking about it

It would be definitely good to have, but with Cavani only 24/25, what are we gonna do with Lukaku if we buy Cavani? Any ideas?

by Marcus_Cfc on Feb 18, 2012 4:29 AM GMT via Android app up reply actions

I wouldn't mind having 2 world class players for such an important position

And that’s assuming Lukaku lives up to his promise.

by DPeezy on Feb 18, 2012 5:12 AM GMT up reply actions

He still looks too raw

We know its in the club’s and Torres’ best interest for him to leave the club instead of continuing his torrid spell at Chelsea.
With Drogba set to leave, the only CF we would have left is Sturridge and Lukaku. I’m actually not fond of Sturridge, he looks a little too weak for me, and doesn’t have the physical prowess that the CF need.
Cavani is good in the air, great feet, good eye for goal and do not need much space to work in.
He should be our top 2 target in the summer.

by MarcusCFC on Feb 18, 2012 5:19 AM GMT up reply actions

Lukaku is 18

getting a top notch 24-25 year old striker now would be the perfect bridge to the time when Lukaku (if he develops as we hope) is ready to start.

by dojothecat on Feb 18, 2012 5:35 AM GMT up reply actions

Coach Drogba

I wish we could keep Drogba around if for no other reason than because he seems to have a knack for helping young players.

If you look at quotes from our current and former young players its pretty common to see them give credit to Drogba helping them with certain aspects of their game.

by miz36 on Feb 18, 2012 3:15 AM GMT reply actions