Didier Drogba played his last game for freshly-crowned English Premier League champions Chelsea FC on Sunday, and it didn’t take long for the rumor mill to connect the onetime MLS target with a move to North America.
Several weeks ago The Telegraph reported that the powerful striker was mulling a move to MLS if Chelsea did not offer him a contract extension. With that reality having since been confirmed, Drogba made clear that he’s not quite ready to hang up his boots just yet.
"I want to play for at least one more season and in order to play more football I feel I need to go to another club," Drogba told Chelsea’s website, which called him "an all-time Blues great," this week.
"All the fans know my love for Chelsea and I hope to be back here in the future in another role."
Drogba, a three-time World Cup veteran and winner of the 2011-12 Champions League, was linked with a move to MLS in 2012 after his first stint with Chelsea ended, and Commissioner Don Garber subsequently acknowledged that the league sought to sign him up as a Designated Player before he elected to join cash-flush Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.
The Telegraph report earlier this month linked The 37-year-old Cote d’Ivoire legend with a move to New York City FC, where his former Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard is soon to arrive after a season at Manchester City. NYCFC currently have two Designated Player slots filled with Lampard and Spanish striker David Villa, but have repeatedly stated their intentions to sign a third.
Drogba got the start in his Blues swansong on Sunday, but was substituted in the first half and carried off the pitch by his appreciative teammates as Chelsea overcame an early deficit to stroll past Sunderland 3-1 before lifting the EPL trophy postgame.
Drogba starred for the west London club from 2004 to 2012, winning 12 trophies and scoring the decisive spot-kick against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. He left to play in China and Turkey before he returned for a second spell under Jose Mourinho, who first signed him from Marseille in 2004.
