Didier Drogba - Portrait of a Hero

Born in 1978 in Abidjan, the capital of the troubled African state of Ivory Coast, he was sent to live in France with an uncle, a professional footballer, at the tender age of five. At the age of nineteen, Drogba signed with Le Mans before moving to Guingamp and becoming an Ivory Coast International. In 2004, Chelsea splashed out £24 million to bring him from Olympique Marseilles to Stamford Bridge. His goals and commitment won supporters' hearts but he has also courted controversy along the way. Now one of the highest-paid footballers in the world, his amazing life story reveals the struggle of his early years, his battle for acceptance on and off the football field and the truth about his rivalry with Shevchenko in a story that really is stranger than fiction.

John McShane worked as a reporter in Fleet Street covering conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Ireland before becoming associate editor of the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror. He is also the co-author of the highly-acclaimed autobiography of Arsenal favourite Perry Groves, We All Live in a Perry Groves World. He is married with three children and has homes in London and Spain.