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Didier Drogba rejoins Chelsea on a one-year deal Didier Drogba rejoins Chelsea on a one-year deal
(about 1 hour later)
Chelsea have announced the signing of striker Didier Drogba, on a one-year contract. Didier Drogba has completed an emotional return to Chelsea on a one-year contract, having been sweet-talked by José Mourinho into ignoring offers from elsewhere.
Thev Ivory Coast international has returned to Stamford Bridge just over two years after his first spell that produced 157 goals in 341 appearances, a total placing him fourth in the club’s all-time highest-scorer list. The Ivory Coast striker had two-year deals on the table from three Major League Soccer clubs in North America but he has been unable to ignore the pull of Chelsea, the club at which he wrote his name into folklore.
Originally signed by José Mourinho from Marseille in 2004, Drogba was a free agent having left Turkish club Galatasaray and Chelsea confirmed his arrival on their official website on Friday afternoon. Mourinho has reshuffled his attacking options over the summer, signing Diego Costa from Atlético Madrid for £32m – only once has the club paid more for a player – and moving on Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba. The former was released; the latter sold to Besiktas for £4.7m. Mourinho complained at times last season at the lack of productivity from his centre-forwards but he hopes that Costa and Drogba, aided perhaps by Fernando Torres, the £50m record signing, who remains on the books, can fire an upturn.Drogba, 36, will no longer be a first-choice selection but Mourinho hopes that his personality and experience will serve to inspire the rest of the dressing-room, most notably the younger players.
“It was an easy decision - I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with José again. Everyone knows the special relationship I have with this club and it has always felt like home to me,” said Drogba, now aged 36. Mourinho has always sought to have leaders in his squads, players that have won everything and can bolster the collective belief. His signing of Eto’o last summer on a one-year deal was rooted, in part, by what he could bring away from the field. Eto’o enjoyed a good relationship with some of the club’s Under-21 players.
“My desire to win is still the same and I look forward to the opportunity to help this team. I am excited for this next chapter of my career.” Drogba has joined as a free agent, with his contract at Galatasaray having expired at the end of last season and he has signed to play, rather than to coach. The club say that there is no option built into the deal for him to join the coaching staff next summer.
Mourinho added: “He’s coming because he’s one of the best strikers in Europe. I know his personality very well and I know if he comes back he’s not protected by history or what he’s done for this club previously. He is coming with the mentality to make more history.” “It was an easy decision,” Drogba said, having posed with the Chelsea shirt at the club’s Cobham training ground. “I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with José again. Everyone knows the special relationship I have with his club and it has always felt like home to me. My desire to win is still the same and I look forward to the opportunity to help this team. I am excited for this next chapter of my career.”
Mourinho has turned on the charm to attract players during his second spell at Chelsea. He told Eto’o, for example, that even if he scored one goal, it would be enough for him while he paid a personal visit to Cesc Fábregas in Spain earlier in the summer to persuade him to swap Barcelona for Stamford Bridge. Mourinho let it be known that he had missed the final game of his son’s football season to be with Fábregas.
With Drogba, it was easy to tug at the heart strings. Mourinho signed him from Marseille for £24m at the beginning of his first spell in charge in 2004 and together, they won trophies and built a special bond.
Drogba went on to score 157 goals in 341 appearances for the club, putting him fourth on their all-time list while he won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and the Champions League in 2012, when he scored the equaliser against Bayern Munich and the winning penalty in the shoot-out.
His return means that Romelu Lukaku could once again play elsewhere this season. The 21-year-old Belgium striker, who joined Chelsea for £18m in 2011, has spent the last two seasons on loan at West Bromwich Albion and Everton, and Mourinho has not given the impression that he fully trusts him. Ironically, Lukaku idolises Drogba. Everton want to sign Lukaku again, either on loan or permanently.
“Didier is coming because he’s one of the best strikers in Europe,” Mourinho said. “I know his personality very well and I know if he comes back he’s not protected by history or what he’s done for this club previously. He is coming with the mentality to make more history.”