No player has ever won the Ballon d’Or award while representing Chelsea, but Yaya Toure believes that one Blues legend deserved to win the individual prize during his career.
Even though so many elite stars have played for Chelsea over the years, nobody has won the prestigious trophy for the world’s best player while at Stamford Bridge.
The closest any Blues player has come to winning the Ballon d’Or was Frank Lampard finishing 2nd in 2005 behind Ronaldinho. Meanwhile, Didier Drogba finished 4th place in 2007. Back in 2021, Jorginho (3rd) and N’Golo Kante (5th) both made the top five.
Speaking a few months ago, talkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein predicted Chelsea’s Cole Palmer will soon win the Ballon d’Or.
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Yaya Toure claims Chelsea great should’ve won the Ballon d’Or
During a segment with GOAL, Yaya Toure picked Chelsea icon Didier Drogba as the greatest African player, edging out Sadio Mane, George Weah and Mohamed Salah.
Toure added that his former Ivory Coast teammate should’ve won the Ballon d’Or prize. He said: “I love Drogba, what a player… I think at some point people have been unfair, I think he deserved to win the Ballon d’Or as well.”
Drogba finished inside the top 10 for the Ballon d’Or on five separate occasions as a Chelsea player, which highlights the level he reached. The Chelsea legend retired back in 2018 as one of the greatest centre-forwards of his generation.
Of course, he’s most recognised for two spells with the Blues. He scored 164 goals in 381 Chelsea appearances, winning 14 trophies in total.
Drogba sits top of the pile on the list of Chelsea’s top 10 greatest strikers ever.
Chelsea issues at striker
Apart from Diego Costa for a few years, no Chelsea striker has really managed to fill the gigantic void left by Drogba in the centre-forward position.
Nicolas Jackson, 23, is over halfway through his second season as the Blues’ main striker.
Jackson has a moderate record of 26 goals in 68 appearances for the club, plus his all-round play is usually quite impressive. However, that doesn’t highlight the amount of big chances that he missed in matches.
Jason Cundy tells Chelsea’s Jackson to be more physical like Drogba, who used to bully opposition players on the football pitch with his physicality.
It remains to be seen if the Blues need to go out and sign a new world-class No.9 to lead the attack.
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