Blue blood: Drogba salutes the Stamford Bridge crowd he could soon be playing for again
Chelsea hope to announce the return of Didier Drogba this week.
Mirror Sport understands Blues boss Jose Mourinho is confident of luring the 36-year-old Ivorian back on a one-year deal, with the option of a coaching job beyond that.
Mourinho wants club legend Drogba’s inspirational qualities back in the dressing room having lost two other stalwarts, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard.
The striking legend has several other offers on the table after the expiration of his contract with Turkish side Galatasaray and his representatives insisted on Sunday that no final decision has yet been made by the player.
But the appeal of a return to the scene of some of his greatest moments as a player will be hard to resist.
Drogba is widely regarded as one of the finest players ever to pull on the Chelsea shirt.
He netted 157 times for the west Londoners - including an equaliser and the decisive shootout penalty to help them beat Bayern Munich and lift their first-ever European Cup in 2012.
He left as a free agent that summer and has since played for Shanghai Greenland in China and Galatasaray - with whom he made an emotional return to the Bridge in the Champions League - last season.
Chelsea's lack of a cutting edge up front cost them last season's title.
As a result, Mourinho has had to revamp his strike force allowing Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o to leave and recruiting £32million Spain striker Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid.
Belgium international Romelu Lukaku, loaned out to West Brom and Everton for all of the last two seasons, is also set to return to the squad.
Meanwhile, Chelsea maintain they have had no official notification that Egypt winger Mohamed Salah is required to return to the country and perform military service.
The Blues are understood to have held talks with the 22-year-old over the emergence of reports suggesting he is set to be forced to go home for a minimum of 12 months.
As things stand, he will travel with the club on Monday to a pre-season training camp in Austria.
Source: Mirror Sport
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