A product of Cobham, Dominic Solanke has enjoyed spells at Liverpool, Bournemouth and Spurs, but it’s a Chelsea player who left him most in awe in his career.
Solanke played 17 minutes of football for the senior side, coming on during a 6-0 win against Slovenian side Maribor — the youngest to appear for Chelsea in the Champions League.
That record has since been bettered, most recently when Reggie Walsh made his Champions League debut against Ajax earlier this season.
It goes to show, though, that Solanke was rated extremely highly at Stamford Bridge. While it didn’t work out for him, he does have a few strong lingering memories from his time in blue.
Didier Drogba playing for Chelsea
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Dominic Solanke was star-struck by Didier Drogba
The Spurs striker was recently on Sport Bible playing ‘Finish the Sentence’, where one of the sentences was ‘The most star-struck I’ve ever been was…’
After a moment of reflection, Solanke responded: “Probably seeing Drogba around the changing room when I was in the academy. You see your favourite players, and you’re like, ‘Damn’. So I’d probably say that.”
Solanke might have been too young to see Didier Drogba in his prime, but he was a legend of the game by the time his second stint at Chelsea came around.
When Solanke was banging the goals in at Bournemouth, we were starting to see a resemblance to his idol, but he has struggled to find his shooting boots since moving to North London. Injuries certainly haven’t helped.
Dominic Solanke playing for England
Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
Chelsea haven’t seen the likes since Drogba
Since Drogba’s initial departure from Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have really struggled to find anything close to his quality.
Some of the notables:
Fernando Torres
Romelu Lukaku
Demba Ba
Samuel Eto’o
Diego Costa
Álvaro Morata
Michy Batshuayi
Olivier Giroud
Tammy Abraham
Timo Werner
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Kai Havertz (played as a striker often)
Nicolas Jackson
The best of the bunch was undoubtedly Diego Costa, who was a lethal centre-forward.
But after that, it gets ugly. There are a few who had the quality but not the consistency, and others who simply weren’t fit to wear the shirt.
The two currently vying to lead the line could break Chelsea’s striker curse. Here’s hoping.