Drogba: Joining the Blues ‘disgusted’ me

JUST two weeks after claiming he wanted to leave Chelsea, Didier Drogba is set to upset his employers once again with the release of a DVD chronicling his life story in which he admits he wanted to fail the medical he took before he joined the London club and was “disgusted” when he eventually put pen to paper at Stamford Bridge.

Didier Drogba: L’Incroyable Destin comes out this weekend in France and in it, Drogba explains that he wanted to end his career at Marseille and tried to get out of moving to London on the day he was set to sign for the Blues.

Drogba has made up with the fans after last month’s claim that “something was broken at Chelsea” and reportedly wanting to leave for one of Real Madrid, Barcelona or AC Milan.

Since those revelations, for which he has since apologised, he has scored in every game he has played: the 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, the 2-0 win over Schalke, and two in the 6-0 win over Manchester City.

But the Ivory Coast forward will have to continue to fight for the fans’ affections after these latest revelations, which also include his desire to leave the club in summer 2006 after his second season at Chelsea.

“I always wanted to stay at Marseille and finish my career there,” Drogba tells director Cedric Degruson in Didier Drogba: L’Incroyable Destin. “I wanted to do a Maldini. Before that season with Marseille, I’d had dreams of abroad, but after that season, I had no desire to go anywhere else. I’ve had a lot of affection in all the clubs I’ve played for, but Marseille was passion.”

Drogba had helped Marseille reach the UEFA Cup final and finish sixth in Ligue 1 in his first season at the club.

“Didier had become the king of Marseille, he was loved by the whole city and he was the leader of the team,” explained Pape Diouf, who was named Marseille chairman just weeks before Chelsea’s £24m offer came in. The club president, Robert Louis Dreyfus, accepted the Chelsea offer and the decision was out of Diouf’s hands.

But Drogba was not happy.

“My reaction was simple. I said I didn’t care,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in the money and I just didn’t want to leave. At the medical I had in a Paris hospital, I prayed they would find a problem with my knee, so that the move wouldn’t happen.”

His agent, Thierno Seyde, revealed there was almost a late twist when Drogba came to him at four o’clock in the morning on the day he was due to fly to London and said he didn’t want to go. “The day I signed for Chelsea, I felt disgusted,” admitted Drogba. “People might find it hard to understand, and look at the financial aspect, but the money didn’t count for me. I wasn’t happy — it was as simple as that.”

Drogba struggled in his first two seasons in London, scoring 10 and 12 league goals respectively.

“After the second season, I again wanted to leave,” he told Degruson. “It was a difficult time. Chelsea fans were whistling and jeering me and I don’t know many players who would like that, to be booed by your own crowd.”

Last season, Drogba turned things round, becoming the first Chelsea player to score 30 goals in a season since Kerry Dixon in 1985, and netting the winning goal in the FA Cup final. “What I’m proud of is how I managed to change the way people in England looked at me. It was my best season ever.”