Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has been one of the instantly identifiable player within the Ivory Coast squad over the last decade.
The 35-year-old has been regarded as one of the best players in the world since joining Chelsea back in 2006. He has helped the Ivory Coast team reach several African cup of Nations finals over the years. However, he has been unable to lead the team to success despite being the captain of the team. The team containing Drogba has often been referred to as the Golden generation of Ivory Coast.
After failing to win the latest African cup of nations, there has been speculation that Drogba will announce his retirement from international football after failing to secure the trophy yet again. The team has been in the finals twice in the last few years. After spending six months in Chinese football, Drogba is back in European football with Turkish club Galatasaray. However, he has been dropped for the first time from the squad by manager Sabri Lamouchi. Lamouchi has said that there is no other reason to drop Drogba other than his poor form.
The striker has scored just one goal in five appearances for Galatasaray since signing at the end of January. “Drogba is a huge player with a bigger status than any other player but he has had a difficult last eight months and he now needs to work. He needs to get back to his competitive standards. He has had three different clubs in the last eight months and his time in China cost him a lot of fitness. It means he was not the Didier we know at the last Nations Cup,” said the Ivory Coast manager amid speculation that Didier Drogba had requested the manager to leave him out of the squad.