Didier Drogba has notched 12 goals in 11 starts since joining Montreal.
Didier Drogba – King of Montreal. First of his name, only one of his kind.
Ok so it sounds a little grandiose, but seriously – if anybody is bonafide soccer royalty, it’s Drogba. Montreal were even gifted the infamous “Drogba Legend” banner from Chelsea Football Club, another superlative synonymous with the magisterial Ivorian.
Be honest with yourselves for a second and go back to when you heard Drogba would be moving to Major League Soccer. You thought that Drogba had accepted he was in the twilight of his career — no disrespect to Major League Soccer in saying that.
When Drogba made the switch to Major League Soccer in late July it was on the back of a productive but definitely slower paced season for Chelsea Football Club. Though the super-human Drogba showed signs of age, he still led the front-line at a crucial time for Chelsea in their final push toward their Premier League championship.
The thing is; Drogba couldn’t be any farther from the twilight of his career, and he’s having the time of his life.
Didier Drogba’s human age is 37, sure, but in footballing years he’s younger than that.
I called for Drogba to end his tenure at Chelsea sooner rather than later during the Blues’ championship push, to stop his legacy being tarnished. Honestly, though, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Here’s why.
Most professionals begin training to play the beautiful game at a very young age and as a result when many finally make the jump to being a pro, they become burned out very quickly – see Michael Owen for a perfect example. Drogba’s path, however, was somewhat different.
Before joining Chelsea, Drogba had never lived in the same place for more than 5 years at one time – and that was the first five years of his life in the Ivory Coast. Between then and joining Chelsea he moved 14 times. It was because of his impoverished upbringing that Drogba never really had access to any kind of professional training as a young man.
In 2007 Marc Westerloppe – then a scout with Lens — shared with the Guardian some insight to Drogba’s footballing journey
“Unlike most footballers, Didier had missed out on the academy system. That could have been a drawback, but in fact it is the reason why he will keep getting better, even now. Didier only started playing every day when he was 18.”
Drogba was bounced around between homes, and guardians. He only moved to Le Mans because he was finishing an accounting degree at the time. After he became an apprentice he found the every-day training rough going. Westerloppe continues in the Guardian article as follows.
“At Le Mans it took Didier four years to be capable of training every day and playing every week. I could see he had lived through some difficult times and his family situation was complicated: he lived with his uncle, then with his parents. At Le Mans it took him a while to digest all that. Even late on a lot of clubs questioned how good he was.”
Drogba’s take on this?
“I was playing well one game and then the game after I was shit. That’s not the way you have to be when you want to be strong in your career.”
I can personally attest to the clubs line of thought regarding Drogba. A £24 million signing from the French league, he looked inconsistent during the pre season. Some days he would have a touch that rivaled Ronaldinho’s, other days it looked like he belonged in the Championship. Mateja Kezman had signed for Chelsea that summer and he was showing very well in pre-season, and it infuriated me that Drogba was supplanting him in the team. His play remained somewhat inconsistent, but Drogba showed all the raw elements to be a top, top striker in the Premier League.
What we didn’t realize, though, was how impressive this actually was.
At around age 20 a switch flipped inside of Drogba. When he signed his first professional soccer contract at that same age, he realized that he had to work much harder than he ever had before. At age 20 Didier Drogba began training full time – something he had never done before.
Let that sink in for a while… Didier Drogba, just four years after turning professional, scored 10 goals in the most competitive league in the world. Just four years after deciding to take soccer seriously he was a Premier League regular.
What else needs to be said about Drogba’s career since then? A Champions League winning penalty kick, more important goals for Chelsea than we even need to recount, and 12 goals in his first 13 appearances for the Montreal Impact are just mere chapters in a career that will be enshrined in time as one of the greatest of all time.
And guess what? He’s still getting better, even at 37, just in different ways.
His lengthy journey toward superstardom hasn’t put wear on Drogba’s tyres, it has put new tread underneath them. He’s more than just a soccer player; he’s one of the most influential men in the world. Drogba’s charity work and efforts that ended in bringing peace to his home – the Ivory Coast – in 2010 even led him to being voted one of TIME Magazine’s top 100 most influential people. He even donated his signing bonus with soda-pop giants Pepsi — $3 million worth – to his hometown in the Ivory Coast, Abdijan.
He has built hospitals, quelled unrest in his home country, and helped youth culture – not just youth development in sport. If he ran for Prime Minister in the Ivory Coast he would win in a landslide.
Drogba’s presence resonates with people around the world, you just have to look at the masses that mobbed him upon his arrival in Montreal. He has immersed himself in Montreal’s culture, and they have immersed themselves in Drogba. It is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect match for both entities.
Much noise has been made by media outlets (myself included) about Major League Soccer’s pursuit and subsequent overpayment of old, over-the-hill, greats and bringing them to the league. Many said the same thing about Drogba as they did about the rest of them, except Drogba? He’s different.
Drogba brings a personality to the league never seen before, and not the one that we see from him on the soccer field. He’s an ambassador, he’s a leader in the truest definition of the word, and he will prove to be the biggest thing to happen to Major League Soccer since David Beckham arrived.
Bigger than Pirlo, bigger than Gerrard, bigger than Kaka, more popular than Giovani Dos Santos.
Can Drogba keep up his level of performance at his “age”? The answer quite simply is yes, because Didier Drogba is not 37 years old; he is ageless, he is super-man, and it is because of him and only him, that the Montreal Impact will get anywhere near the MLS Cup Final this season.
Pardon my gushing but… how can you not?
Sebastian Giovinco was the best player in MLS for the majority of this past season. But the affect that Drogba has had on Montreal since joining is even more staggering. Without Drogba’s goals this season Montreal would have missed out on the playoffs by five points, granting Orlando City SC and Kaka the final playoff spot in the East.
While the same can easily be said for Giovinco, he didn’t have quite as profound of an effect on Toronto all-around as Drogba did. Just look through the Ivorian’s instagram and look at how he has bonded with his teammates both in the senior team, and in the youth team.
Drogba is the perfect person to provide the leadership and inspiration that it takes to lead a team not just through a tough playoff campaign, but also through a crucial period of development for Major League Soccer.
