I’m guessing Didier Drogba’s thinking before he made a statement about his new deal was ‘if it’s good enough for the captain, then it’s good enough for me’.
Not the contract or the money, because no-one’s going to match JT’s that’s for sure, no, I mean the hypocrisy.
First we had John Terry tell us – after taking the vow of silence for a month – that “leaving Chelsea was never a possibility” but he seemed to have forgotten he’d already let it slip “there were a few sleepless nights” after he’d heard how much Citeh were prepared to pay him. He’d also insisted “it’s never been about the deal” for him and yet he’s said “if the club come to me in the next few months I’ll sit down and talk to them.” So, unless he’s suggesting he’d turn down the offer of increased wages because “it’s never been about the deal”, then it’s a fair bet he hasn’t been as straight with us as he’d have us all believe.
So, given that the old ‘I want to see out my career here’ routine worked for the Chelsea captain, who once again picks up his ‘Mr Chelsea’ title, Drogba obviously thought he might as well give it a go, and having signed a two-year extension which sees him ‘committed’ to Stamford Bridge until 2012, the Ivorian claimed “I have decided to extend my contract with Chelsea for two extra years and I am very happy and proud to continue to wear the blue of Chelsea until then. I love the club, I feel good here and I want to continue to win titles with them. I stay because I am ambitious to pick up lots more trophies, regain the Premier League title, win cups, it’s for this that I have extended my time at Chelsea. But my number one objective is to win the Champions League. I am convinced that this year we can go to the end and finally lift this trophy. I’d like to take advantage of this message to thank the Chelsea supporters who have always encouraged me with fervour as well as all my fans.”
The thing about his Gwyneth Paltrow style speech though, is that it’s sincerity falls down once you remember it was a mere 9 months ago he was saying in the proof version of his autobiography “I hope I am in my last year at Chelsea. I don’t know what the future holds for me but I let it be known I wish to leave because I want to start again from scratch, try something new but I will never forget what Chelsea have given me in terms of recognition. Where I kissed the Chelsea badge after I scored, that gesture was for the fans. I don’t love the jersey. I love the supporters.’
Still, if what he’s telling us now is that he finally feels comfortable in the shirt and he’s prepared to work his arse off to repay some of the (sometimes blind) faith that’s been put in him, who are we to argue?!
Blue is the colour
