Drogba returns to Chelsea on one-year deal

Monday, 28 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Didier Drogba completed a remarkable return to Chelsea on Friday, signing a one-year deal to rejoin the club where he wrote his name into the record books and spearheaded the most successful period in their history. Two years after leaving Stamford Bridge on a high after his heroics helped them win the Champions League, the emotional pull of reuniting with manager Jose Mourinho proved too great a draw for the Ivory Coast striker.

“It was an easy decision - I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with Jose again,” the 36-year-old told the club website (www.chelseafc.com). “Everyone knows the special relationship I have with this club and it has always felt like home to me.”Drogba’s last appearance for Chelsea came in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich, where he almost single-handedly clinched the trophy for the London club, scoring the winning penalty in the shootout after powering home a header to force extra time. It seemed a fitting way to end his eight-year spell at Stamford Bridge where his dynamic game, combining power and pace, almost reinvented the traditional target-man role. Drogba joined the Blues from Olympique Marseille for 24 million pounds ($40.8 million) in 2004, at the start of Mourinho’s first spell in charge, and scored 157 goals in 342 appearances, hoovering up silverware along the way. He won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups as well as the Champions League before leaving in 2012.