Reece James has revealed that Didier Drogba was his childhood hero and that he was the man at Chelsea.
The Chelsea right-back has stated that his hero in football is the club legend Didier Drogba, as he was a striker before. One could be forgiven for believing that the Englishman has always been a right-back, with the young right-back being such an astute defender and efficient over-lapper; however, he has revealed now that wasn’t the case.
In an exclusive interview with “The Athletic”, James disclosed that he used to play at the opposite end of the pitch as a striker. According to James, my hero was the Ivorian. I have played as a forward, and he was at Chelsea then. Thus, I wanted and played to be like him and totally idolized him. From there, I went into central midfield until the age of 14 or 15. I had a great spell there and got used to the position. However, it got to a period I wasn’t getting playing time, and there were several midfielders in the squad, and the right-back chance was free then; that’s how I got myself there.
James could be compared to Drogba in the aspect of muscular build, but not much. We did not see Drogba defending and standing one-on-one against forwards or rushing to the right channel to give a cross to the box. It isn’t easy to ascertain exactly what James got from studying the Ivory coast international games.
It is interesting to add that Frank Lampard, the blues coach, has urged Chelsea players to emulate the fighting spirit of Didier Drogba while playing for the blues.