Back in the summer of 2004, Chelsea spent little over £20m to sign a relatively unknown striker on these shores in the form of Didier Drogba. He left as one of the Premier League’s best-ever no.9s.
It was the 2003-04 season that caught Chelsea, and Roman Abramovich’s eye. The Ivory Coast star scored a whopping 32 goals in 55 games for Marseille, his only season with the French club, joining in 2003.
But importantly, it was his 11 goals in 16 games during Marseille’s run to the UEFA Cup final that will have convinced Abramovich and Chelsea that he could transfer his goalscoring skills from France to England.
Drogba or Henry? Only ONE won a Champions League while in England…
Costa gave his answer 💙
Of course, Drogba would go on to become a Chelsea legend, scoring 164 goals in 381 games for the club across two spells and winning four Premier League titles, as well as the 2011-12 Champions League.
Chelsea might have finally signed their next Didier Drogba
However, it took Drogba a bit of time to get going. Famously, it was not until his third season at Chelsea which saw Drogba really blossom – scoring 33 goals in 60 games during the 2006-07 season.
SSC Napoli v Chelsea FC - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD8
Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Now, Chelsea have Joao Pedro up top, bought for £60m from Brighton last summer and while he has a long way to go before he reaches anything like Drogba managed at Stamford Bridge, he’s on his way.
Certainly, fans think so. One Talking Points user on The Chelsea Chronicle’s website believes Pedro is actually proving to play more like Drogba more and more every day, holding it up as well scoring goals.
Joao Pedro is the CLOSEST Chelsea have had to Didier Drogba since he left… 👀
What do you think?
Drogba and Pedro’s incredibly similar stats after 34 games
It’s not just comparisons being made by fans on social media. It’s actually the duo’s stats which are remarkably similar at this stage. Pedro has clocked up 34 Chelsea outings, scoring 12, and creating five.
Drogba would obviously go on to play almost 400 games for Chelsea, but after 34, Drogba had scored 13 goals for the Blues and laid on six assists. Just one more goal and one more assist than Pedro has so far.
Incredibly similar players, incredibly similar style, incredibly similar stats. Now, it’s all down to Pedro. Can he go from decent Chelsea striker, making a good start, to becoming a matchwinner like Drogba did?
We’ve seen it under Liam Rosenior. His brace against Napoli was Pedro, and Pedro alone, taking the game by the scruff of the neck and shoving Chelsea into the last 16. Maybe, Chelsea have their Drogba after all.
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