Didier Drogba has launched a scathing attack on Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s stewardship of the club, insisting that it has become unrecognizable in the past year.
Didier Drogba is Chelsea’s legend having bagged 164 goals for the club and spearheaded arguably the finest moment in the club’s 118-year history with their Champions League success in 2012.
His former teammate, Frank Lampard is back as the Blues interim boss but has lost each of his opening four games in charge.
Chelsea slumped to a two-goal loss at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final. The side completed a four-goal aggregrate victory for the Spanish and European Champions who rarely had to get out of first gear across the two legs.
Lampard, the club’s third boss of the season following Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, also oversaw Premier League defeats against Wolves and Brighton. Chelsea is on a miserable run of form and fins themselves in the bottom half of the league standings.
Former Chelsea frontman, Didier Drogba has not held back on his criticsm of the club. The Ivorian spoke out against club owner Boehly who led a consortium to buy Chelsea last year from Roman Abramovich.
Drogba said, “I don’t recognize my club. It’s no longer the same club. There is a new owner and a new vision. Of course, we try to compare it with what happened during the Abramovich era where a lot of players were brought in. But the decisions were very intelligent”.
“Bringing in players like Petr Cech, Andriy Shevchenko, Herman Crespo, Micheal Essien, Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, and I go on. It was done to win titles. They are players with a certain experience. The strategy is now different; we bet on young players. But a dressing room of over 30 players is difficult [to manage] for a manager.”
Drogba continued criticising the club’s players. He added, “they lack charismatic leaders. You need players that take on the game, that assume their responsibilities. You need a player that brings a bit of madness to the stadium.”