Chelsea look on with envy at Harry Kane - the new king of Wembley

In the week in which Didier Drogba announced his retirement, Chelsea fans will arrive at his favourite hunting ground today remembering his glory days — and casting envious glances across the Wembley turf at an opposition striker who would be the perfect candidate.

It is hardly surprising that Drogba has proved difficult to follow. Despite the contribution of David Silva and Sergio Aguero to Manchester City’s current dominance, there’s a strong argument that he is the greatest and most influential overseas player ever to grace the Premier League.

He was certainly the king of the new Wembley, with an unerring ability to raise his game and score at will in major finals (he scored eight times at the stadium, including goals in four FA Cup finals, all of which were won).

No wonder his former teammate Frank Lampard once said: “Didier is my hero. No striker I’ve seen scores as many important goals in finals and semi-finals.”

But there’s a new king at Wembley these days and, sadly for Chelsea, he wears white and not blue.

Harry Kane arrives at this London derby on a personal high after scoring at the stadium for England last weekend, clinching a victory over Croatia that took Gareth Southgate’s side to the semi-finals of Uefa’s Nations League — taking his tally for the season to 11 already.

Add in his Golden Boot at the World Cup, together with the 59 goals scored in the Premier League over the last two seasons, and the only thing missing to put him in the same league as Drogba is a lack of finals and trophies to go with his success in front of goal.

The 25-year-old is adamant the silverware will come eventually — and although Chelsea fans will no doubt boo him this evening, they will also be painfully aware that if Kane was leading the line for the opposition today instead of Alvaro Morata, then Maurizio Sarri’s side would have a serious opportunity to win the league.

Kane harbours those kind of ambitions at Tottenham and knows this match, and the festive fixture list ahead, are crucial if his side are to keep pace with City and Liverpool until they finally move into their new stadium at some stage in 2019.

“Last year in December and January we really pushed on and put a good string of results together, so that is what we have got to do now because we want to start fighting for the title,” Kane said.

“When we get into the new stadium, get that momentum, get everyone on their feet behind us, then let’s see where we can go. If we’re not too far behind, then we can be in a position to give it a good push.”

“My ambitions at Tottenham are to win trophies. Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues, everything. We’ve got to aim high, we have got everything in place to be one of the top clubs in Europe. So that’s the aim, that’s my goal and I’m sure it is the club’s too.”

That burning ambition is one of the things Kane shares in common with Drogba. He doesn’t have the same raw power or variation of the Ivorian but his ferocious shooting, aerial ability, quick decision-making and strong self-belief are similar.

You always felt Drogba knew he could score he if turned up the desire — and Kane is the same. Just look at the number of goals he has scored in North London derbies against Arsenal, for instance. When the occasion is there, he rarely disappoints.

There is absolutely no chance of him moving across London to Stamford Bridge, of course, but imagining him in a Chelsea line-up is an interesting exercise; you can be pretty sure he’d fit the system perfectly and would take Sarri’s side to the next level.

Other men have tried to fill Drogba’s boots over the years, including Olivier Giroud and of course Diego Costa, who looked the real deal for one season but faded badly in his second and then fell out spectacularly with manager Antonio Conte in a depressing finale to his Chelsea career. But nobody has really cracked it and there remains a feeling that Sarri will have to buy big in January if he is to solve the striking conundrum.

Not so Spurs, whose main difficulty has been finding a deputy for Kane who plays alone up front and is a shoo-in every match, making playing in his shadow a rather uninspiring prospect for potential signings.

He already has more Wembley goals than Drogba — not a big surprise when you consider he plays both club and England games there at present — but the real challenge is to try and match the 17 trophies the former Chelsea man won in a remarkable career.

That won’t be easy and maybe he will have to move at some stage to achieve it. But today is an opportunity to underline that he has the mentality to tackle the challenge — and to remind Chelsea fans that the one final Drogba did lose at Wembley was against Tottenham in the League Cup of 2008.

Kane, aged 14, was in the stands to watch as a supporter with his family that day. This time, you suspect, he will be far more influential.