Why Didier Drogba's Chelsea return will be a big mistake

Will he or won’t he?

There have been several unsubstantiated reports that Jose Mourinho may look to bring back Didier Drogba to Chelsea.

Drogba was one of our greatest strikers and his heroics in cup finals, most notably in Munich, will not be forgotten. However, his return would be a step in the wrong direction.

At 35-years old, Drogba is in his twilight and signing him would mean that another striker, such as Lukaku, would be denied opportunities and although he may be able to do a job, he would be a temporary patch to a situation that needs a permanent solution.

There is no guarantee that Drogba will be able to perform consistently at the level needed for a Premier League season and his return could unbalance the squad.

Please do not interpret this as a negative against a player with 157 goals for the club if anything I don’t want him to return out of respect for his legacy. He left in the perfect moment and it would be a shame if a return didn’t work out and put a negative tinge on a happy ending.

Player/Coach

There is one way I could see this working, if he was a player/coach with the task of bringing through Lukaku and providing sporadic cover for the rest of the strikeforce as required, then his return could be a positive one.

This would be a Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes role, using his experience and relationship with the club to act as cover or an impact player without harming the balance at the club or his legacy.

However, there would need to be a defined expectation that he would not play regularly something that may not tally with his expectations.

Its just a rumour but Mourinho needs to be careful about bringing back the old guard without a long term plan for the future.