What made DD tops

When Didier Drogba runs out for Chelsea at the Parc des Princes tomorrow night he will get a glimpse of what might have been. The Ivory Coast striker turned down a move to Paris Saint-Germain as a teenager and, apart from his birthplace of Abidjan, the French capital is the closest thing to home.

Having recently signed a £60,000-a-week contract as Chelsea's £24million record signing Drogba's head is unlikely to be swimming with regrets, but he hardly took the quickest route to the top of his profession.

The 26-year-old has played for an incredible eight clubs in an itinerant career that seemed destined to replicate that of his uncle Michel Goba, the journeyman professional he followed around the country from the age of five. One wonders why?

Drogba's rise from obscurity is a triumph for old-fashioned footballing development. Wayne Rooney is often referred to as one of the last of the back-street footballers but Drogba learned his game in the Paris suburbs, also using his imposing figure to excel at basketball.

That he eventually made it to the top is largely due to the faith of three coaches who have followed his progress from a young age.

After playing as a youngster with Dunkirk, Abbeville and Vannes, Drogba quit the game as a 14-year-old to concentrate on his studies but was persuaded to try again by Jacques Loncar, a PE teacher and youth-team coach at Levallois Sporting Club, an amateur Fifth Division club on the outskirts of Paris.

Loncar gave the young Drogba a trial and, more importantly, the incentive to start taking his football seriously.

Loncar said: "Didier lived over 50km from the club and it was hard for him to get to training. He had to catch a lot of trains and buses, was often late and it wasn't easy for him to train. He would eat McDonald's on the train on the way to training.

"He moved to Levallois and his lifestyle changed. I made sure he was there on time and encouraged him to eat properly, not sandwiches and burgers. He improved quite rapidly after that, scoring 20-25 goals each season between the ages of 14 and 18, but I thought he was too young to go to PSG. I recommended him to Le Mans."

After joining Second Division Le Mans as a 19-year-old in 1997, Drogba formed the most important relationship of his professional life with youth-team coach Marc Westerloppe who, such was his faith in Loncar's judgement, urged the club's directors to sign him without even seeing him play.

Westerloppe gave Drogba his professional debut a few months later but his progress was blighted by injury and self-doubt. Westerloppe, now youth-team coach at Lens, said: "Didier had tremendous ability but he was used to training three times a week so it was difficult for him to cope with training every day. He was always tired and frequently injured, but once he learned to cope physically his qualities shone out.

"He wasn't committed to life as a footballer. It wasn't clear he would become a professional and he didn't know what he was doing. He had many injuries at Le Mans and we feared they may ruin his career.

"When he arrived at the youth centre you could see he was too tall for his body. He was clumsy and not very well proportioned but now his height matches his weight. He looked clumsy on the pitch because something was missing. It took him four years to build up his strength and get over his injuries but by 22 he was ready for the top."

Westerloppe's move to Lens was a setback for Drogba as his successor, Thierry Goudet, did not think much of the oversized African. The 6ft 2in Drogba was dropped to the reserves and as the self-doubt returned so did his bad habits. With a dismal record of 12 goals in four seasons his career appeared to be stalling but Guy Lacombe, another former Le Mans youth coach, took a risk and signed him for First Division Guingamp.

Westerloppe said: "He lived like a normal student or a teenager but had to change his ways. He always trained very well but had to alter his way of life off the pitch and make some sacrifices, sleeping in the afternoon, getting early nights and eating well. Before he was eating badly and staying out late, not behaving badly but not professional.

"He always had the talent but only at Guingamp did he reach physical and mental maturity. He's a player that needs to be made to feel special and have the confidence of the coach. In Guingamp he discussed everything with Lacombe and you saw the results."

Lacombe believes Drogba's breakthrough at Guingamp, where he scored 29 goals in a season-and-a-half to earn a £4m move to Marseille, was mental rather than physical.

Lacombe, now first-team coach at Sochaux, said: "Didier took a long time to believe in himself. I thought he could become a great player if he sorted his head out. He was a different player in his head to the way he was on the pitch but he scored in his first game and never looked back."

After the disappointments of the past Drogba is finally moving forward.

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