Chelsea Transfer Rumors: 5 Reasons the Blue's Shouldn't Sell Didier Drogba

Let me be as transparent as possible and tell you right off the bat that Didier Drogba is by far my favorite player on Chelsea and in all the sport. It was back in the summer 2006, getting ready to graduate from high school, I would was out of class early and headed over to a friend's to watch the World Cup. Just learning the game at that point, I had a passing interest, but then I watched a match between the Ivory Coast and Argentina and there was Drogba.

A sport that is often shamed for its lack of physicality, I was in awe over his strength, speed and power. The perfect combination of everything we love in America including an amazing background of hardship, struggle and perseverance that alluded to the myth of the American dream. I was hooked.

So I became a Chelsea fan and watched as he helped them win trophies. I gradually hated United more and more. I learned about European competitions, the many different international confederations and the nuances of the transfer window. I was addicted and loved every minute of it all thanks to Drogba.

So yes, there is a tad bit of bias in this article and perhaps even some nostalgia, but hey at least it should mean it is heartfelt.

As soon as Torres was purchased last winter and it became apparent that the two would not partner with one another up top, it was obvious Drogba would be the one who would suffer. It’s difficult to justify sitting £50 million on the bench especially when he is considerably younger than the incumbent.

Then this summer, with Villas-Boas’ ‘revolution’ occurring at Stamford Bridge and the old guard seemingly being pushed, Drogba’s days in west London seemed done. However, he would survive the summer transfer window as part of the squad.

But now with the winter open the fans again are calling for club to move on. They want to kill off the old way of doing things, canonizing the past by distancing ourselves from it. They hide under the slogans “it’s just business” or they are “too old,” but I think these attempts are naïve and misguided, especially in the case of Drogba.

Here are five reasons why Drogba should at least remain with the squad the remainder of this season.

An Issue of Depth

Look at the Chelsea roster. How many center-forwards are there? Drogba, Torres, Lukaku and Sturridge. So that’s four, but then you don’t have a right winger if Sturridge plays there, and it seems quite obvious that Lukaku is not ready given his limited playing time. So you are really only left with Torres and Drogba. Drogba is sold; Torres goes down…uh oh.

I definitely do not think it was the correct idea to let Anelka go the way he did for this very reason, but in the end that will probably be a moot point. But selling off Drogba would lead to a real issue of depth at the position.

When you are playing with a single central forward the way Villas-Boas will only do, you are limiting the options for what you can do should an injury crisis occur. With two center forwards, it is very easy for Mata or Sturridge to come middle and play there should they need him for a game or two. Add in the fact that Chelsea has more than enough midfielders that can play a variety of positions and there is plenty of room to move should the squad be stretched.

Now should Drogba be sold, Villas-Boas will of course take the more than likely action of buying another forward. Names like Pato, Cavani and Soldado have been floated out there and don’t they all sound nice. But all of these players are the premier guys on their clubs.

Should Chelsea be so fortunate to purchase them it would be for a large sum of money (reported £40 million, £50 million and £30 million respectively). Again, the issue of formation comes up with you will have a similar problem of having to bench a large sum of money either way, in fact even more so.

Perhaps Drogba is not the long term answer, but for the issues of this season in regards to purely logistical reasons, it makes sense to keep him around.

His Personality

Over his long and storied career Drogba has been bashed by opposing fans as being a diver, weak-minded and a whiny little brat. But us Chelsea fans know better. He is one of the most charismatic members of the squad, lighting up the locker room with his playful shenanigans (i.e. the master of the photobomb) and high spirit in the game.

Outside of the club, he has been one of the most charitable men in all of sports, not only in monetary value, but being a strong figure that helped end the bloody civil war in his native Ivory Coast. Anytime you are on a list with Nelson Mandela for humanitarian accomplishments, you transcend your athletic prowess in more important social ways.

But back on the field, it is easy to see why he has been so criticized by opposing fans; it’s because every single time he plays he gives it his all and that intensity can often be mistaken for thuggery. And this season never has Chelsea needed a leader more than now.

With the team struggling mightily, Drogba has been a very positive force in the attack, not just for his play but through his encouragement. In the game against Aston Villa, Chelsea were down 3-1 and playing terribly. The entire squad was hanging their heads, except for Drogba, who was encouraging them to keep pushing. He ran and got the ball when it went out of play. Clapped on chances by out of form Torres and was overall the only one showing real life.

This is who Drogba is 95 percent of the time, and while Terry is a fine captain, he has never quite come off as buddy to them, more of a coach than companion. Plus being on the back line, there is not much he can do to influence the run of play up front.

If Drogba were to leave, you would not only lose that presence off the field that can help keep things loose while the pressure builds from outside the club, but you are also losing a leader up front. Torres is not in form and even when he is, he has always been a stoic force. Mata is a brand new arrival and one of the youngest starters on the squad. Sturridge is the same but younger, and his erratic play is in no way indicative of a leader who is calm under pressure.

Any forward who would come into this squad would never have the instant amount of respect from his teammates or the fans Drogba has built up in his near decade with the club. And this respect is important in keeping both the clubhouse and fans on Villas-Boas’ side.

Many people have pointed to the fact that he is about to turn 34 as a hindrance, but perhaps we need to examine the other side of the coin that says he has seen it all and knows how to lead his team out of the rubbish and back to glory.

Bad Business and Football Move

Drogba is going on 34 years old, known to have suffered injuries, and well beyond the twilight of his career. For these three reasons, a transfer away from Stamford Bridge will do more harm than good for a few reasons.

First, there are two ways you can see him going either A) the Eto’o route to a new money team just trying to sign a superstar to put butts in the seats or B) a competing club in Europe.

In regards to the first move, you can see this being a club like Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande, who were ready to make him the highest paid player in the world this winter, or LA Galaxy, which would entice him with living in a great location and being the adoration of their fans, as well as the commercial success of Beckham.

The problem here is that this results in very little actual money for Chelsea. The move to make Eto’o the highest paid player in the world only netted a paltry €22 million for Inter Milan. Of course this is a decent sum of money, but not nearly the amount you would imagine given how ‘epic’ of a deal this was. Essentially it was all publicity and Inter is the one who lost out. When a club is enticing a player with a massive salary, there is not much left over for the transfer fee.

The second move would be to an AC Milan, Marseille or even within the league, as Aston Villa and Tottenham have expressed interest.

Again the problem is going to be in the fee, as no respectable competing club is going to tie up a large sum of money with a player who has two to three years at best of high level play. However, the more pressing issue is the fact that you could potentially be putting him in a position where his transfer can directly affect your results.

Second, any money that Drogba brings into the club would be a small sum in comparison to the level of play he has provided. Some of the names I have mentioned are the only names I believe Chelsea fans would be comfortable exchanging for Drogba. Any price tag a 34-year-old could yield would barely be half of the amount needed to bring in the other player.

Anyone else Chelsea would be willing to sell would be on the end of their career as well (Lampard, 33; Alex, 30; Malouda, 31). In all reality, it would take the transferring of at least three of these veterans to meet the transfer demands of some of the biggest names, the kinds that will come in and help immediately, which is what Chelsea need (I will explain this more in the next slide). Right now it is best to just keep him here, as his on-field abilities are needed more than the money he would bring in.

Finally, the January transfer window is often equated to the summer one, but in reality this is just media hype in an attempt to fuel reads and garnish advertisement money. It is absurd to think that deals can be made in the matter of a month that take into account the many variations of analysis that go into them. There is the fiscal considerations, the tactical place, the personality and the prospect of future. Only the first issue is handled by the boardroom boys, everything else is done by the coaching staff that also must run practice and prepare their squad for the tough January schedule.

It is immensely difficult for clubs to do all of this at the same time and make sound decisions in regards to transfers. I know we all have at least one very recent example of a poor winter transfer that perhaps should not have happened. It does not make sense to rush into any kind of reactionary transfer that will supposedly accelerate the evolution of the club.

In all honesty, Drogba will more than likely move to a Galaxy or Chinese club for the money. That money will still be there in the summer and you can still get another half of a season out of him where he can not only be able to help the team in all the ways I mentioned earlier, but he can be given a proper send off by the Chelsea fans at his last home game, one that he and everyone who has seen him bring this club to another level deserve.

He Is Still the Best Option

When Ryan Giggs accepted his role as a bench player, it was because he realized that he was no longer one of the best 11 players on the team. He sat there nobly awaiting his turn and went out there, played his hardest 15 minutes at a time and always understood that this was the role he was now expected to play at Manchester United.

But the Giggs metaphor that many Chelsea fans seem to want to use to describe Drogba does not work for one simple reason—Drogba is Chelsea’s best option as a center-forward.

I know this may be difficult for the Torres fanatics to stomach, but he is better than Torres right now. In games where Drogba starts, the team statistically has done better than in games where Torres starts. This is not a knock on Torres by any means, but rather a simple fact that Villas-Boas has finally come to realize and is now taking into consideration in game planning.

It has become quite apparent over the past year that Torres is not going to create things on his own. He is not and has never been the kind of player that makes things happen out of nowhere. He is great at getting behind defenses, but that is pointless if there is no one to get him the ball.

Fans have bashed Lampard saying he is too slow. Then they bashed the Sturridge for not giving Torres enough chances. Now they blame the formation for not playing to Torres’ strength. I understand the need to protect his already fragile confidence, but I think it is safe to say Torres will never be great with this particular group.

Drogba on the other hand has performed well because he has always been able to do things on the own simply because of his versatility. He is strong in the air, smart with his back to goal, quick with the ball at his feet and a lethal finisher. Drogba can have 89 minutes of terrible play, but only needs a single moment where he out jumps a defender or spins them on his back to score a goal.

There is also the fact that Drogba can do it all. There was one point where there would be four or five players standing over a Chelsea free kick. But with Anelka gone, Alex ready to go, Malouda and Lamps on the bench, Drogba is the biggest threat from a dead ball situation. Again 89 minutes of bad play, but one free kick is all it takes sometimes to win a game. That goes for penalties as well.

I know the response that is going to come to this slide: “Villas-Boas is not building to win now, he is building to win for the future and Torres needs to play.” I get that and understand where those people are coming from, but to compete in the future you need to be attractive in the present. Big time players and prospects are not going to want to come to a club that is not in Champions League, and right now that is a real concern at Stamford Bridge.

What would entice Mario Gotze, Edin Hazard or any of the other young talents to come to a team where they will be not be competing at the highest level? They could stay where they are now and have a better showcase for themselves or even be willing to take less money with the promise of winning European glory.

I get the future is where this team is headed, but that future is reliant on the present, and right now that present is Drogba.

Respect

Sports are a business and running a club the size of Chelsea is like being in charge of a corporation. Most equate this to a kind of ruthlessness that must be enacted on its employees: the cutthroat stereotype that if you are not providing at the absolute highest level you should be shut out.

The problem with stereotypes is they often negate fact or are too general to be accurate. Any corporation understands that success is found two ways: happy customers and happy employees.

I will go out on the limb and make the bold proclamation that Didier Drogba built Chelsea into the power it is today. Of course he did not do it alone, but of the stars that came into the team in the mid 2000’s he was the biggest outside of Europe. He built Chelsea into an international brand, opening up the African market to get the likes of other greats such as Michael Essien and role players like Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel.

He is the only non-English player to crack the all-time goals list for the club (fourth), has the most Premier League goals in a season (29, ’09-‘10), most FA Cup final goals (three), most league cup final goals (four), most European goals (31), and has always been a fan favorite.

Three Premier League titles, three time runner-up, three FA Cups, two League Cups, two Community Shields, and a Champions League final.

These are the things that are associated with Didier Drogba’s name at Stamford Bridge. Beside Terry and Lampard, there is no greater figure at the club, no one who has accomplished so much and no one that has been as important to the success of Chelsea FC on the field.

Drogba has earned the right to be given every opportunity to continue to play for Chelsea if he would like. I know the reports are all suggesting he turned down a contract for a year extension and that his agent said he will go where the money is, but please don’t be naive and just ignore this. It is a part of negotiating, and until Drogba comes forth and says he wants out himself, he should be held with great esteem.

Those who want Drogba out now are either new fans or not understanding that he is a major reason why you can wear your jersey proudly in the streets all around the world and everyone knows what it means.  It could turn into a PR nightmare should he be sold, especially if not done the right way. It could fracture a clubhouse of veterans who trusted Villas-Boas from the first day when he said he respects the history of the club and will keep his veterans.

Drogba deserves a proper send off. It is fine to make the difficult decision that he will no longer be playing with the club, but it must not feel like he is no longer wanted. It must be mutual and it must be fair. This is why a departure this winter is not a good idea.