Chelsea legend Didier Drogba is hopeful that Romelu Lukaku's contributions to the Blues' Club World Cup victory will help reignite his career at Stamford Bridge.
The Belgian has endured a fairly slow start to life back in west London following his near-£100m move from Inter in the summer.
This rough patch wasn't helped by the release of an unauthorised interview with Italian media in which Lukaku confessed he loved Inter and his first choice of club upon his San Siro departure wasn't Chelsea.
But the star forward is helping make amends and was crucial to their Club World Cup triumph this week, netting the winner in the semi-final and putting Chelsea ahead in the final.
And Drogba, who Lukaku has admitted is one of his footballing idols and remains in touch with, was proud of how he performed in the showpiece event in Abu Dhabi.
“I love this goal! I love this goal!” Drogba told The Athletic. “Romelu gave us the opening, the chance to take the lead in this game, to bring more confidence. It was not an easy team to play against.”
The Ivorian added: “I’m even more happy because of all he has been through the last few weeks. He is responding well. The best way to answer is to score goals and to win trophies. That’s what he did.
“His goalscoring record is unbelievable. Can he believe in himself more? Yes. I think this goal will help him a lot. Is it a turning point? Yes, I hope. We all hope for that because it is important for the club.
“I think he is the kind of striker that we were missing. He is an addition to Timo [Werner], who likes to take the space. Now we have Romelu who is also a target man. That’s what we need as an attacking team. The way the manager wants to play, he knows why he wanted to take Romelu with him. He knows it better than I do!”
Source : 90min