Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba once again reminded Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that he was not right in not choosing to sign him up when he had the chance almost a decade ago. Drogba has been one of the best strikers in Europe over the last decade.
However, he was an unknown player when he was playing with the French club Le Mans. He played at this French club for a period of four years from 1998 to 2002. Wenger sent out his scouts to watch the young Ivory Coast international, but in the end decided not to sign him.
He was eventually brought to the Premier league by Chelsea, who paid £ 24 million for his services. Even though it seemed a huge amount of money at that time, Drogba has more than repaid the faith by scoring more than 150 goals during his eight seasons at the club. He has also won all the major trophies with Chelsea including the Champions league title. In his eight years at Chelsea, Drogba scored a sensational 14 goals against Arsenal, which is his best against any team. He is right now playing for Turkish club Galatasaray, but returned to haunt Arsenal with yet another goal return.
Drogba scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Arsenal in the Emirates cup.
“We watched him carefully when he was at Le Mans. It was not only us who watched him. But we felt he might not be completely ready. It was a mistake but, when you are in football, everyone can understand. We had Thierry Henry. We said we would follow Drogba’s progress. We never ruled him out,” said Arsenal manager in 2009. “I don’t know how much Chelsea miss him but we don’t miss him. He did a lot of damage against us in every game,” said Wenger after Drogba left Chelsea.