DIDIER DROGBA FANS

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The Ivory Coast international striker Didier Drogba has revealed that he is not sure about his future with the international team after failing to help his team win the African cup of nations once again. The 34-year-old former Chelsea striker is regarded as one of the best in the world, and he was hailed as the shining light within the Golden generation of the Ivory Coast team. Despite having some of the best players in the world like Drogba, Ivory Coast have been unable to get the monkey off the back by winning a major tournament. The last time the nation lifted a major tournament was back in 1992.

At 34 years of age, the 2013 African cup of Nations was seen as the final opportunity for Drogba to lift this coveted trophy. The former Chelsea man was coming into the tournament as a Champions league medal winner for the first time, but he could not help his teammates lift the title, as Ivory Coast were knocked out in the quarter-finals itself. They were beaten on penalties by minnows Zambia in the last edition of the tournament. Drogba recently secured a move back to Europe with the Turkish club Galatasaray. He has admitted that he may not continue with the national team anymore.

“It is over. We must now look ahead to the 2014 World Cup qualifying competition — with or without me,” said the 34-year-old after they were knocked out by Nigeria following the 2-1 defeat in the quarter-finals of the competition. Drogba missed a crucial penalty kick in the last edition of the tournament. If he had scored the penalty, it would have given Ivory Coast their major success for more than 20 years. The Ivory Coast team still has high profile players like Yaya Toure and Kolo Toure even if Drogba decides to retire from international football.

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The Leeds United manager Neil Warnock is of the opinion that the absence of Didier Drogba is causing potential title loss for Chelsea. The big Ivory Coast international was recently released from his contract, which brought an end to his eight-year stay at the club. During this period, Drogba has become one of the best strikers in the world and he has been almost single-handedly responsible for many successes Chelsea have had over the years. The current Bayern Munich president once remarked that Drogba is the best striker he had seen in ages. Despite this, Chelsea decided not to offer the player a new contract because of his age.

At 34 years of age, Drogba had very little football left in him. As a result, he has now joined the Chinese league by signing for the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. In his absence, Fernando Torres has been the main striker at Chelsea. This has been partly because the club has been unable to secure any transfer targets during the summer. The poor form of the Spaniard meant that Roberto di Matteo had to lose his job. The club also failed to win the first three major trophies they had on offer this season. They will be heading into the match against Leeds United looking to progress to the semi-final stage of the League cup.

“He epitomised what Chelsea was all about when they won all those trophies and his goalscoring record was tremendous. I loved him as a player. If I was Torres I’d want to play against us! We don’t have a very good defensive record this season and we have conceded a lot of goals. Obviously there is a bitter rivalry in the past between the fans,” said the Leeds United manager Neil Warnock, who has a history of rivalry with Chelsea manager Benitez.

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The Juventus manager Antonio Conte has said that the former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will not be joining the club in the January transfer window. The Ivory Coast international is currently training with the Premier league outfit in order to keep himself fit before the African cup of nations begins in January. There has also been talk surrounding the future of the Ivory Coast international joining the Italian champions on a short-term loan deal before the resume of the Chinese league. The 34-year-old left Chelsea in the summer for the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, but he is still regarded as one of the best strikers in the world.

This is because of his achievements with Chelsea as recently as helping them win the Champions League title in May. The Italian tabloid papers suggested that Antonio Conte, who recently returned to the Juventus bench following his ban, was interested in bringing the 34-year-old in order to boost to the striking options at the club. Juventus are extremely good in all areas of the pitch except up front. Due to the finances being extremely tight at the club in recent times, they will be unable to afford the likes of Radamel Falcao at £ 45 million. Hence, they have reportedly identified Drogba as a stopgap solution.

Conte, though, rejected such speculation by saying that there is no truth in the rumours. “We are just fine keeping our feet on the ground. This is a difficult time given the current economic climate, not just for Juve but for all the other clubs. I won’t be bringing in any top players because we don’t have the means to support them. We have to make the most of what we have, we have to work hard and try to improve our current players into top players,” said Conte.

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The former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has been nominated as part of the several nominees looking to win the coveted FIFA Ballon d`Or award. The 34-year-old striker recently left the club for the Chinese league after being released from his contract, but he played a very significant role in helping the team win the Champions League title for the first time in their history last season. Didier Drogba not only scored the winning penalty for Chelsea in the penalty shootout against Bayern Munich in the final of the competition, but he also scored numerous crucial goals as well.

Didier Drogba was responsible for the fight back in the final group match against Valencia that helped Chelsea seal a place in the last 16 of the competition. Even though he was not in great form in the Premier league, Didier Drogba was extremely crucial in all the stages of the Champions League last season. He helped Chelsea recovered from the 3-1 defeat suffered against Napoli in the away leg to win the home leg 4-1. He also scored in the home match against Barcelona in the semifinals in order to give Chelsea a slender advantage going into the second leg.

His final great contributions for Chelsea came in the final against Bayern Munich. After having defended valiantly for most of the match, Chelsea found themselves having to search for an equaliser with only 7 min on the clock remaining. Didier Drogba’s scored a wonderful header from a corner with only seconds remaining on the clock to take the match into extra time. He then scored the winning penalty to give Chelsea their first-ever success in this competition. He is nominated alongside the current Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo, who won the competition along with the FA Cup after being in charge for just a few months.