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The King has returned to his kingdom.
The homecoming of Chelsea's favorite son Didier Drogba has sent all of West London into absolute delirium, and rightfully so, for he was not just the scorer of cup-winning goals and the winner of season-defining matches; he was much, much more.
Drogba represented a rising force, a new generation, an entire club, even, and his earth-crashing header coupled with his sang-froid penalty against Bayern Munich on that magical May night epitomise his contributions to the club. Which is why the frenzy surrounding his return to the Bridge is not unjustified in the slightest.
All the euphoria aside though, let us delve into the true ramifications of his return to Chelsea.
Too many strikers in the squad
Drogba’s return could not have come at a worse time for the Blues. Or its strikers, to be more precise. As of 25th July, Jose Mourinho had at his disposal three strikers, who, when on form, could be considered among ‘Europe’s best strikers’, in Jose’s own words (it’s disputable whether that statement still holds true for all three). The estranged Fernando Torres, the blossoming Romelu Lukaku (again, it’s disputable whether the ‘Belgian Behemoth’ is still going through the ‘blossoming stage’), and the ‘new toy’ Diego Costa – all of whom make a cumulative cost of approximately £102 million; not a small amount, by any means.
Therefore, you cannot blame one for questioning the motives behind Jose Mourinho signing any striker, let alone a 36-year-old club messiah whom everybody worships in spite of being well past his prime and who, potentially, is going to jeopardize the hopes and careers of all three aforementioned strikers (this, again, is disputable, as one of the three already has his hopes – and whatever little shreds of his career still remaining intact – jeopardized).
After all, to have even one of these three strikers warming the bench is bad enough, to have two warming the bench is sheer injustice, but in God’s name, how can you bench all three of them? That’s downright blasphemy! Something had to give. Rather, some ONE had to give.
Romelu Lukaku had to depart
Turn forward the calendar by approximately a hundred-and-two hours (coincidence? I think not), and there you have it – the future of the Blue Lions Romelu Lukaku was on his way to Everton, bags packed, his Chelsea contract no more than a forgettable memory. Someone had given in, and, unfortunately, that someone was Chelsea’s brightest and most promising frontman.
While it’s disputable whether Drogba’s return to Chelsea was the sole reason for Lukaku’s departure, the simple fact of the matter is that Drogba’s returned forced it, even if it didn’t enforce it.
The irony? Lukaku was touted to be Drogba’s protégé. I’d laugh at the cruelty of it all if I weren’t crying.
Cooking Jose Mourinho’s goose
With Lukaku gone, Chelsea now have a 36-year-old with creaking limbs and rusty toes whose last taste of competitive football was in a league 20,000 leagues under the sea lions’, an untested target-man in Diego Costa who only recently realized his nationality and also played second fiddle to another better-known striker only a season ago, and a distraught Spaniard in Torres who can’t hit the broadside of a barn. Hardly the strike force you’d expect from a supposed title contender.
Leading to Jose’s ruse
On the re-signing of Drogba, Mourinho stated that he was “one of the best strikers in Europe”. This statement was either (a) what the Special One believed to be true, which is why he said it in the first place, or (b) a typical mind-game with Mourinho playing out one of his famed stratagems.
Unless Mourinho’s mighty judgement has waned since the end of last season, and he’s still too young to go senile, this was just another of his wily artifices. Because Drogba did not even finish as the top scorer on his club in Turkey, let alone the Super Lig, or all of Europe.
Leaving Drogba all to lose
On the wrong side of 35, ‘Robert’, as goes his moniker, is at an age where most players hang their boots up. While it is a known fact that coaching is a major part of the reason for his return, he will make more than the odd and inconsequential ‘cameo’ off the bench. Often, he will be introduced as an ‘impact substitution’ to produce something out of nothing, to conjure something out of his magic hat.
And while the Drogba of Millennium ’07, of Wembley ’07, ’09, ’10 and ’12, of Emirates every year from ’04- ’12, and of Munich ’12 unfailingly and unflinchingly came up with something out of his repertoire, it is believed that only a shadow of that man remains. His arsenal is exhausted.
Romelu was not built in a day. It took Chelsea (and other clubs) two-and-a-half seasons of delicate moulding to finally prepare their beast for his day of calling. When finally his day of calling did come, another man, one who had already gone full circle, took his place. And so, the mighty Romelu, from whom so much had been expected, had been squandered.
When Drogba single-handedly led Chelsea to their first and only Champions League victory against Bayern Munich in 2012, he embodied all that he had stood for at the club, and summed up all that he had ever achieved for the Pensioners. Therefore, you can’t say I’m exaggerating when I say that Drogba not only left a legacy when he left Chelsea, but that legacy was of his own making.
Drogba created a legacy, in what seemed to be one of those infinitesimally small occasions when a player becomes as large as a club, when a player becomes the club. Drogba’s story, and subsequent departure was as close to a fairytale as real life can get. And by returning to Chelsea, Drogba is sullying that legacy.
After all, would you, as a Chelsea fan, remember Drogba’s last kick of the ball as that glorious, nonchalant penalty, or just some other goal? No matter what Drogba manages in this stint at Chelsea, it will, inevitably be a mere echo of the Drogba that every Blues fan reveres, adores and worships.
To quote Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.
