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Encomium of a Football Legend

November 24, 2018 at 2:26 pm, No comments

He is neither Cristiano Ronald nor Leonel Messi; and his greatness is not measured by the number of Ballon d’Or he has won. Nor could it be gauged by the number of trophies to his name for his country. Indeed, he has won none of these. Yet his greatness is undisputable, and understandably so.

Few people would have bid on him that could ever make to professional footballing, and fewer still would have thought that he could make a name and leave his marks in the world of football. He was destined to be an accountant; and until the age of 21, he never made an international debut in the crazily competitive and cruelly exclusive world of football. Yet he was to become one of Africa’s greatest footballers and one of the most feared and most venerated strikers the world has ever seen. Ask the erstwhile Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsène Wenger, if you may. His story is that of making the impossible become real, palpable, and concrete.

Didier Drogba is his name. Some people like to call him the “Legend”; others refer to him as the “King”.

He is Blue, the color of a boundless sea that keeps flying high and high in Northern London. It was his move to Chelsea, where he belongs ever since, that helped make him a Legendary, a King in the world of football. There, he has won everything the club has competed for. It is often believed that a player needs to be a winner of Ballon d’Or to reach greatness. If so, Drogba is an exception. He has reached greatness without succumbing to its weight. He once remarked: “I’m the proof that hard work beats talent. You have talent? Great, keep it. Keep your talent. I don’t care. Because I’m going to work until I surpass you. I’m never going to give up.” That says all about him. Little wonder he has always been there whenever he was needed the most: producing his best on the biggest occasions.

On 22 October 2003, José Mourinho is said to have whispered in his ears, after Olympic de Marseille’s defeat to Mourinho’s Port FC, “it is a striker like yourself that I’ll need one day”. Indeed, history will forever remember that the two made history in Chelsea the following year and a many more afterwards.  

To many Chelsea’s fans (myself included), Drogba is amongst the players (if not entirely the player) who made them believe that the club is worthwhile supporting. Beyond any doubt, he has been a source of inspiration to the African youth and to young people around the globe.

Now that he has retired, now that he has proven everything and has nothing more to prove, one can only wish all the best to the Legend, the King—Didier Drogba. 


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