Montreal

Didier Drogba says he has offers to play in France but hints he won't take pay cut

Published Jan. 9, 2017 4:41 p.m. ET

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Caitlin Murray

Didier Drogba isn't ready to hang up his boots just yet.

The 38-year-old was pushed out of the Montreal Impact's starting line-up this past season and he left the club without any clear plans for the future. Now, he says he is hoping to return to France to play for Marseille – but he hinted he won't do it for a steep salary cut.

"There is an option to return to France, but I will no say more," Drogba told French television channel Canal Plus. "I hope to be able to hold my promise one day (to return to Marseille), it can be done. You just have to take the time to sit down and talk."

"My comeback at Marseille is the eternal question for more than 12 years now. Every time I respond, and people say I'm just talking. But you let a player go, and financially he is making a good living since then, and now you want him to come back and divide his salary in two? And after that, you say he doesn't like Marseille. Who works to earn less? No one."

Drogba's comments are certainly interesting – he may be discussing his unwillingness to take a pay cut to join Marseille in years past, or he may be saying that's still the case now. He may simply be talking about both. Either way, it's hard to imagine the 38-year-old can still demand large sums for his services.

He was once a great player for Chelsea, scoring more than 150 goals for the Premier League club over nearly a decade there. But the Impact, in their run deep into the 2016 MLS Cup playoffs, realized they played better without their $2 million-per-year player in the starting line-up. Drogba didn't take kindly to being benched and refused to dress for a match in a very public dust-up.

Drogba is a free agent now and seems to have some options available. Whatever he does, it's pretty clear that Drogba does not intend on retiring anytime soon.

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