Didier Drogba is not surprised by Mohamed Salah’s sublime performances for Liverpool after an unsuccessful spell at Chelsea earlier in his career, although he did not expect fellow ex-Blues man Kevin De Bruyne to make such an impact at Manchester City after his earlier struggles in the Premier League.
The Blues legend lined up with two of the Premier League’s best players towards the end of his career and now watches them compete for the title.
The Chelsea legend lined up alongside both Salah and De Bruyne in the latter stages of his career, but the duo were unable to secure regular first-team action at Stamford Bridge at the time.
Salah left Chelsea in 2015 to have a successful loan spell at Fiorentina, before moving to Roma on a permanent deal and then eventually returning to England with Liverpool in 2017, where he has been a huge success.
De Bruyne left Chelsea for Wolfsburg in 2014, after an earlier loan spell at Werder Bremen, and his fine form in the Bundesliga prompted Manchester City to lure him back to the UK.
Drogba has continued to keep an eye on his former team-mates throughout their careers and is pleased to see the duo doing so well now.
“When you see those two players, you are very happy to see the way they improved and became leaders in their own teams,” Drogba said at Geneva Motorshow.
“Mo, I am really happy for him. It is going to be an interesting title race, really interesting. They are two different times. Mo wasn’t playing much. Now they compare to the guy six or five years later, who has improved and he is playing games every weekend, every game.
“So, of course, he is going to score goals. The guy is talented, we saw that in Chelsea, so I am not surprised. We saw it in training, but it was difficult. We had Eden Hazard. You have [other guys]. There was a lot of competition for places. That’s football also.
“Credit to him, when he left he proved to everyone that he is a great player. That’s what I like about him. He left, he didn’t succeed at Chelsea. He went to Italy, to play, get some more minutes, comes back to the Premier League and now he is killing it.
“I think for Kevin, the same thing. He was really young, and in the team, we had all these big names. He decided to go and play. In football, it is straightforward, the more you play, the better you become. The more you can understand the game, the more you can read the game and become confident.
“That’s exactly what happened with him. When you have a manager like Guardiola who is helping him to understand and read the game faster, wow, he has become a different player. I don’t know, but it is going to be very interesting. I am going to follow it to the end. There will be more things happening for sure.”
Meanwhile, Drogba has retired from football after he ended his career at Phoenix Rising, the club he owns in the United States. The Ivorian has chosen to move away from the training pitch to boardrooms and charity events, working in business and alongside organisations like his own Didier Drogba Foundation as well as Peace & Sport.
Such is his schedule running international businesses, he only got to his first Chelsea match in March when the Blues drew 1-1 with Wolves.
“Because there are many options,” Drogba said of why he shunned becoming a coach. “When you play 20 years of professional football, you meet a lot of people and make a lot of contacts. This gives you opportunities for life after football.
“This is something that I was always interested in, to be able to own a team or go into something different. People expected me to be a sports director or stay in football. I am in football but in a different way. That’s very exciting to see the other side of the game.
“I have been honoured to be named Chelsea and Yokohama ambassador, I have been travelling around and going to Asia to promote the club, and also our sponsor Yokohama too. That’s what I have been doing with the club. I have been taking care of my own business too, travelling.
“I have been travelling a lot. A lot, a lot. So I haven’t even had time to go and watch the games live at Stamford Bridge. And taking care of my foundation, which takes a lot of time. I am really happy.”