Drogba, the 33 year-old Ivorian forward, rolled back the years to produce a menacing performance to secure Chelsea’s passage into the last 16 of the Champions League. Having been restricted to a limited number of appearances this term and only contracted to Chelsea until the end of the season, the blues Hitman has now netted four times in his last four games.
It has been widely speculated in recent weeks the striker would be plying his trade elsewhere come the season’s finale, however last night’s goals and performance will do the Drog’s case no harm whilst his current employers mule over offering their number 11 the two year extension he craves. The recent change of fortunes for Drogba will also widen his future options if the Stamford Bridge outfit decide against offering him more than just an extra year, with the forward being allowed to sign a pre-contract with potential suitors come January.
However Drogba’s game against Valencia had everything power, presence, pace, goals and an assist. For a game where Chelsea found themselves under huge pressure from sections of the media knowing it was a win or bust situation for the club and arguably equally so for manager Andre Villas Boas, Drogba picked the right time to step to the fore.
While the newspapers continue to speculate a whole host of clubs who while be queuing for the African’s services, it is what the Chelsea board of directors decide to do that will prove the pivotal factor in shaping Drogba’s future. With links to join up with former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at the Bernabeau surfacing and speculation he will join cash happy Anzhi Makhachkala, a fit and scoring Drogba could prove a valuable coup for another Club at Chelsea’s expense.
Surely after his goal against Newcastle last weekend and his bulldozing display on Tuesday night which inspired Andre Villas Boas’ men to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League, an inform Drogba must be a certainty to start the weekends match against Manchester City alongside Daniel Sturridge.
Right now, Drogba’s future still remains unclear, however if this rich vein of form continues throughout the festive fixture frenzy in December, Chelsea may have to tie up a 2-year deal for their centre forward before he is prized away to another club for nothing. With Anelka already expressing his desire to leave can the west Londoner’s afford to lose another veteran striker?
In short, this consistency of late has certainly given those who felt Drogba was a spent force plenty of food for thought, as has it given the blues board and other European football clubs chasing the talismans signature.
Simon Blaquiere @simonblaquiere1
Chelsea simply do not have anything else in their current armoury to replace Drogba and certainly nothing on the horizon. Lukaku is two seasons away from proving 'if' he is going to make it or not, Torres is a completely different type of player as is Dan Sturridge. Put simply, no one does what Didier Drogba does better. No one leads the line better than him. For this reason Roman Abramovich (forget the useless board), needs to tie the Ivorian hitman down to a two year deal. It is going to take AVB two years anyway to create the team he really wants and in the meantime he is going to need the experience and quality of the Chelsea talisman to keep us in the top four.
Couldn't agree more Alan! Drogba is simply the best in that position in the world, no one has the same game as him, only stirkers who come close could be Mario Gomez, Rooney (when he's not too busy bagging a granny or throwing a paddy) and quite possibly ibrahimovich. All these strikers possess good physical strength and are as deadly as drogba. But they dont come close to the big man !!!
Warwick….. as far as I am concerned, the closest to Didier was Eto'o but since his transfer to the mega bucks Russian outfit on £300k per week, I haven't seen him play this season. No other centre forward in the Premiership scares central defenders more than Drogba does. After his long bout of malaria last season, his concussion, injury and arm op this season he is now coming back to his best again. Chelsea would be MAD not to offer him a great two year contract,
Most definatly Alan! For a 33 year old, who most people have been labelling 'Past it' (Yet they neevr seemed to take into account his misfortunes as of late), he's easily got another two, possibly three years left!
The thing i love the most, is that the media and footballing fans world wide have pretty much wrote off players like drogba and lampard, only for them to be made to 'eat their words'. Pure poetry!!!