Sheffield United: Neil Warnock will always regret pulling the plug on 100k deal - Chelsea will always be thankful | OneFootball

Neil Warnock turned down the opportunity to sign Drogba for £100,000 while in charge of the Blades.

Former Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock will always regret pulling the plug on a potential transfer deal to sign a young Didier Drogba for just £100k.

Drogba went on to become an icon of the Premier League, scoring over 160 goals for Chelsea in all competitions, across a nine-year spell with the Blues.

Warnock has previously revealed that he turned down the chance to sign the Ivorian while he was in charge of Sheffield United, with his £100k price tag proving too big of a gamble for the Blades, who were in the second tier at the time.

While Chelsea will be thankful that the Sheffield outfit never acted upon their potential interest, the Blades and Warnock must wonder what could have been if they had taken a gamble on the striker.

Warnock turned down the chance to sign Drogba

Earlier in his career, Warnock spent eight years in the Bramall Lane dugout between 1999 and 2007. The highlight of that stint came in the 2005/06 season, when he led United to automatic promotion into the Premier League.

While Warnock’s time in charge of the Blades was largely a positive one, it also provided him with what he describes as his biggest missed opportunity where transfers are concerned.

Back in 2022, Warnock revealed how he had Drogba recommended to him by one of his players at the time.

The former Blades boss, speaking via the Mirror, said: “The main one (transfer regret) early in my career, I had a French lad, Laurent D’Jaffo. He said to me, ‘gaffer I’ve seen a player for you in the second division in France, very good, £100,000.’

“I said ‘£100,000? That’s a lot for a second division French player. What’s his name?’ He said ‘Drogba’. I said we can’t pay £100,000 for a second division French player.

“And you all know what happened to Drogba in the end! I don’t think I could have had a bigger loss than that one.”

While Warnock was likely correct in his sentiment at the time, if he and Sheffield United could turn back time, they would do everything in their power to get the deal over the line.

Had Drogba been brought to Bramall Lane when Warnock had the opportunity, they would have had their hands on one of the finest strikers the Premier League has seen in recent years.

Drogba is a Chelsea legend

Drogba went on to join Chelsea in the summer of 2004, having scored 25 goals in all competitions for Marseille in the previous season.

The Blues parted with £24m for the striker’s signature, a far cry from the £100,000 that Warnock and Sheffield United had offered to them.

The Ivorian scored 10 or more league goals in five of his nine Premier League campaigns at Stamford Bridge, with his highest tally coming in 2009/10, when he struck 29 goals as José Mourinho’s side raced to the league title.

Drogba is one of the most decorated players in Chelsea’s history, having won no less than 12 major trophies during his time with the club.

However, what made his time with the West London outfit even more impressive, was the way he stepped up when it mattered most. Over the course of his Chelsea career, Drogba found the net in nine of the 10 cup finals that he played in.

Perhaps his most valuable goal of all came in the 2012 Champions League final, when he drew Chelsea level against Bayern Munich, with time rapidly running out on them. He then scored the winning penalty in the eventual shootout, to hand the Blues their first ever Champions League crown.

The Ivorian is undoubtedly a club legend at Chelsea, but things could have been so different if Warnock had taken him to Sheffield United.