Drogba vs Lukaku! Chelsea mighty cannon & aspiring star comparison in stats

It’s human nature to compare new phenomenons to something we are already familiar with. Football is no different. Every time a new player emerges we rush to compare them to someone that has gone before. For Kylian Mbappe read the ‘new Ronaldo'. For Gianluigi Donnarumma read the ‘new Buffon'.

With the arrival of Lukaku at Chelsea,  fans have high hope for him. he’s still often compared to Didier Drogba. But is there anything in the comparison, aside from the fact they’re both fine physical specimens?

League goals 

Lukaku has played 12 seasons in professional football, spent over spells with Anderlecht, Chelsea, West Brom, Everton, Man Utd and Inter.

In that time he's scored 193 league goals, all of which have come in the top tier of the nation he’s been playing in, whether that’s Belgium England or Italy.

By comparison, it wasn’t until his fourth season of senior football that Drogba got his first taste of top flight football with Guingamp, having started out at Le Mans.

Drogba scored 210 goals in 470 league games, including Chelsea, Marseille, Galatasaray, Montreal Impact, Guingamp, Le Mans, Shanghai Shenhua and Phoenix Rising.

In the Premier League, Drogba scored 104 goals in 254 games, whereas Lukaku has found the back of the net 113 times in 252 games - 2 games fewer than Drogba. 

Drogba: 104 goals in 254 games

Lukaku:  113 goals in 252 games

International goals

Lukaku made his senior debut as a 16-year-old and has since gone on to score 64 goals in 11 years of international football.

These include a World Cup strike against USA in 2014 and a double against Republic of Ireland at Euro 2016. Of course there are 4 goals in Euro 2020 this year. Drogba scored 65 goals for Ivory Coast in his international career, one goal more than Lukaku. He also had the honour of scoring his country’s first-ever World Cup goal when he netted against Argentina in 2006, although Ivory Coast’s ‘golden generation’ couldn’t get out of the group.

Titles

One of the main arguments towards Lukaku not yet being world class is that his goals haven’t yet contributed towards major honours.

He won the Belgian Pro League in 2010, scoring 16 goals, while he was a part of Chelsea’s FA Cup win in 2012, Last season, Inter won the 2020–21 Serie A for the first time since the 2009–10 season.Lukaku finished the season 2020–21 with 24 league goals, 11 assists. but aside from that there is plenty of room in his trophy cabinet for more silverware.

Drogba had been more successful by this stage of his career, winning two Premier League titles with Chelsea and two domestic cups- the FA Cup and the Charity Shield. Most importantly, as the legend of Chelsea, Drogba won the Champions League for Blues, Drogba's headed effort marked his ninth goal in nine cup final appearances for Chelsea.

Individual honours

Eight goals during Everton’s run in Europe’s secondary competition saw Lukaku crowned the Europa League top scorer in 2015.

That was his second top scorer award, having won the Belgian Golden Boot in 2010, with 15 goals, adding to his Belgian Ebony Shoe win in 2011, handed out to the best player of African origin in the Belgian Pro League. He named Serie A Most Valuable Player for the season 2020/2021.

Drogba had plenty to show for the first nine and a half years of his career, including a French Player of the Year award, Ivory Coast Player of the Year award and the African Player of the Year.

He’d also finish the 2006/07 and 2009/10 seasons as the Premier League Golden Boot, which Lukaku is in line to do if he can hold off the chasing pack.

FIFA Rating

Conclusion

So while Lukaku has more league goals, Drogba was ahead of him in terms of European goals, international strikes and honours- both team and individual.

But the most impressive thing about Drogba’s career was that he kicked on and continued dominating into his thirties.

Can Lukaku do the same? Come back to us in ten years time and we’ll let you know.