Didier Drogba rose to the peak of his career at Chelsea but Jose Mourinho’s role in his legendary spell with the Blues cannot be overestimated.
The pair have taken to social media to celebrate exactly 19 years since the Portuguese tactician contracted the African football legend to join him at Chelsea in 2004.
It is almost two decades, but the memories and great moments the two football icons shared are still fresh.
Taking to his Instagram handle, Jose Mourinho dropped a telling footage of the pair wrapping arms as they walked down the turf at Stamford Bridge back then.
He wrote a cheeky but well-loved caption which reads, “On July 20, 2004, I signed this striker. He couldn’t score. He couldn’t work. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t lead. I was lucky to win three Premier League trophies with this guy. Forever, one of my gang @didierdrogba.”
Reacting to Jose Mourinho’s post, Didier Drogba dropped four slides snap of himself with his no 15 Chelsea shirt, another slide of him with the Champions League trophy with Chelsea, including a moment with Jose Mourinho and the similar snap Jose Mourinho posted on his handle to celebrate the Ivorian.
Drogba quoted the very moment Jose Mourinho asked him to move to Chelsea before closing the quote with a metaphor of what they went on to achieve together.
He wrote, “Didi, you want to be one of the best, you have to come and play for me. I listened and followed you. Then the rest was history@josemourinho.”
Jose Mourinho and Didier Drogba at Chelsea
Jose Mourinho, 60, and Didier Drogba, 45, shared just three years together at Chelsea from 2004 to 2007 but it was the biggest moments in their careers.
Interestingly, the pair emerged into the limelight in 2004. Mourinho caught the eye of former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich after he led Portuguese club, FC Porto to a historic Champions League win in 2004. That same year, he was appointed new Chelsea manager on June 2, 2004, signing a three-year contract with the club.
Bankrolled by Roman Abramovich in his first year at the club, Jose Mourinho made a series of record signings that saw him transformed the fortunes of Chelsea immediately.
Didier Drogba happened to be among the first sets of top players Jose Mourinho brought into Chelsea squad in 2004 with the likes of Michael Essien, Tiago, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, making the lists. His first signing spree yielded immense result.
Mourinho broke a five decades deadlock at Chelsea, wining the Premier League in his debut season with a record 95 points then.
He won a domestic double in his first season adding the EFL Cup to Chelsea’s locker room.
Mourinho defended the Premier League title the following season with another domestic double, winning the Premier League and the FA Cup. He also won the Community Shield in 2005, and another EFL Cup in 2006/07 season.
Didier Drogba at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho era
Drogba saw his career soar under Jose Mourinho after completing that big move from Olympic Marseille to the London club thanks to the influence of Jose Mourinho.
He scored 16 goals in his first season under Mourinho at Chelsea, scored another 16 goals in his second season, and hit a career-record goal tally of 33 in 2006/07 season to win the Premier League Golden Boot before Jose Mourinho left the club.
Drogba also recorded most assists in the 2005/06 season under Mourinho, winning the Premier League back-to-back, and other domestic trophies.
Jose Mourinho left Chelsea in 2007 on mutual consent after a clash with Roman Abramovich but Didier Drogba went on to cement his place as a Chelsea legend, scoring 157 goals in 341 appearances in his first spell which ended in 2012. Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea in 2014/15 season and resigned Didier Drogba.
The Ivorien scored 20 goals in 53 appearances for the club to take his Chelsea tally to 177 goals, and won the FA Cup.
How Jose Mourinho met Didier Drogba
Mourinho had spoken of how Didier Drogba came into his life during Porto’s Champions League match against Marseille.
According to him, he barely sat down before Didier Drogba opened the scoring for Marseille just five minutes into the game. He then met Drogba at the tunnel at half time and asked him whether he has cousins who can play as he does in Ivory Coast because he doesn’t have money to buy him but Drogba laughed and said to him, “one day you will be at a club, who will have money to buy me.”
The next year, Mourinho landed Chelsea job and signed Drogba that same year despite initial objections by the club’s hierarchy. After bringing the Ivorien to Stamford Bridge, “the rest was history.”
