At the age of 37 Didier Drogba has just won his fourth Premier League title. That is quite the feat for a forward closer to 40 than 30. But rather than trying his luck for another season in West London now is definitely time to bow out permanently.

Drogba was part of Jose Mourinho’s first Premiership winning squad and his return to Chelsea was 100 percent down to the special relationship the two have rather than his exceptional ability. Before returning to Stamford Bridge the Ivorian was playing for Turkish side Galatasaray and getting paid really well too but the Super Lig is not the Premier League. In the last ten months Drogba has made over 40 appearances in all competitions and has scored eight times. Not exactly what you’d call prolific but Blues supporters don’t care. Just to have him on the pitch makes them happy.

It’s all down to the legend that Drogba has created for himself through nine years of loyal service and of course the big trophies he has brought back to the club. Other than the domestic titles the biggest has got to be the long-awaited Champions League trophy. Chelsea made an unexpected appearance in the final which though against a strong and confident Bayern Munich side was clinched by the Blues by a Drogba goal. In that moment he wrote his name into history with Chelsea winning Europe’s top competition for the first time. Naturally on such a high Drogba bowed out.

Now second time around Blues supporters are celebrating his career and achievements like it was 2012 again but the situation couldn’t be more different.

Most football fans like Drogba, even those who hate Chelsea, but you can’t deny that the forward is nowhere near the player he once was and the club would still have won the league comfortably without him. When main striker Diego Costa was unavailable Drogba and second-choice striker Loic Remy were given the chance to shine but a combined nine league goals tells you all you need to know about whether they were productive or not. Used mainly as a sub, a total of 20 times, didn’t give Drogba the time he probably needed to really affect games so you can’t judge him too harshly but obviously you want your players to come off of the bench and get the goals that win the game so it’ll be good to give that role to someone else next season.

It is now expected that Drogba will follow two other Premier League favourites, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, to America’s MLS which is starting to look more interesting by the day. The MLS is probably the best way for Drogba to see out his career rather than to keep renewing his contract with Chelsea just on the basis that the manager and fans love him.

Like Gerrard for Liverpool, Drogba would do well to join Chelsea’s coaching staff when he does retire from professional football. After all he has won everything there is worth winning with the club and he has the charisma to one day be a potential Chelsea manager. Drogba won a major trophy on both of his departures and despite Gerrard being the better player, at the moment, he leaves with none. Nobody said that football was fair.

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