Drogba rates the Barcelona star highly and would be delighted to link up with his good friend in club football.

But the Blues frontman admits a club would have to break the bank to make it happen.

"Any striker in my situation would say to you, 'if I end up playing alongside Samuel, I will be very happy'," said Drogba.

"And why not? It would be something exceptional.

"They (a club) would have to get their chequebook out, though!"

Drogba claimed former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho once tried to bring Eto'o to Stamford Bridge.

And the 29-year-old, who is currently preparing for the forthcoming African Nations Cup with the Ivory Coast, revealed Mourinho was a big fan of the Barca striker.

"What I love about Samuel is his pace, his instinct in front of goal, his runs and, most of all, the fact he is indispensable to Barcelona," Drogba added in France Football.

"With Chelsea, when we played a Barca side without Samuel, we knew we had won the game before taking the pitch.

"All the players would say it, even Jose Mourinho. When he found out that (Eto'o) was not playing against us (in the Champions League pool game in October 2006 that Chelsea won 1-0), his first reaction was to say to us, 'We have won'."

Eto'o confirmed he had spoken to Mourinho about the possibility of moving to the Blues.

"I came to meet him in a hotel in London," the Cameroon international said.

"We talked a lot, but we couldn't reach an agreement. There are sometimes things that you can't explain.

"That was some time ago. But Didier was completely in the picture about it."

Eto'o added: "Why not us two in the same team? Can you imagine a team with me and him in?"