What if, what if…There’s almost no football manager out there who didn’t make a mistake or two in terms of missing to sign some player.But after the latest revelation of Neil Warnock, the household name in English football, in the last couple of decades, we think we have the winner for the miss of the century.CHELSEA – LILLEWhile at Sheffield United back in the days (he was in the Blades dugout from 1999 till 2007), he apparently refused to sign Didier Drogba for only KSh 15,5 million!? What a bargain what would be…Drogba in action for Guingamp in 2002 (©Xavier Lhospice/Reuters)Warnock, 73, revealed he was offered the Ivorian striker when he used to play for the French second-tier side Le Mans (in the early 00s), because he thought it was too much money for an anonymous.Asked if he’d ever been haunted after missing out on a player during his career, Warnock told TalkSport:”I think every manager has, really.”Just thinking about it now. Usually, it’s a striker.”One of the main ones early on in my career. I had a French lad playing for me, Laurent D’Jaffo, and he once rang me and said: ‘Gaffer, I’ve seen player for you in the second division in France, very good, 100,000 British pounds (KSh 15,5 million).’Neil Warnock reveals Didier Drogba could have signed for #SUFC for just £100k 🤯 [@talkSPORT]#SUFC #TwitterBlades pic.twitter.com/xhrIsqdubi— GreasyChipButty ⚔ (@GCB_app) February 21, 2022 “I said: ‘£100,000? It’s a lot for a second-division French player.'”I then said: ‘What’s his name?’ and he said ‘Drogba’.”I said ‘we can’t pay £100,000 for a second division French player’. But you all know what happened to him in the end!”That’s my biggest. I don’t think I could have had a bigger loss than that one.”As we all know, Drogba moved firstly to Guingamp, then to Marseille and finally to Chelsea, where he reached football stardom, winning the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and becoming one of the best strikers in the world.Drogba: ‘When I see Salah I want to cry’And Warnock? As a matter of fact, he broke the record for the most games managed in English professional football in December last year. Not too bad for a guy that missed signing Drogba.
