Leboeuf spotted Drogba in the French league in 2002 and is sure the Ivory Coast international will be as big a hit at Stamford Bridge as Henry has been for champions Arsenal.

Drogba joined Chelsea on Monday for a club-record fee of 24.5 million pounds.

"There will be a big competition between him and Henry to be the Premiership top-scorer and biggest entertainer," Leboeuf told The Sun newspaper.

Leboeuf remembers being impressed when he first saw Drogba play for minnows Guingamp at Marseille.

"I was injured and watching in the stands and I thought I was watching Henry out on the pitch. I thought he runs like Thierry, he has the pace of Thierry and he plays with a smile like Thierry.'"

Chelsea beat Juventus for Drogba, 26, who joined Marseille from Guingamp for 3.3 million pounds last year.

Drogba's move smashes the Premiership transfer record for a striker. The previous highest was the 19 million pounds Manchester United paid PSV Eindhoven for Ruud van Nistelrooy two years ago.

Critics point out that Chelsea paid a total of 32.6 million pounds for Hernan Crespo and Adrian Mutu last season, and saw the pair score just 22 goals between them.

Chelsea have also agreed a further 8 million pounds for Benfica midfielder Tiago to take owner Roman Abramovich's summer spending to 70 million pounds with Serbian striker Mateja Kezman, Portuguese defender Paulo Ferreira, Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Drogba is the most expensive player in Abramovichs 190 million pound Chelsea collection, gathered over just 13 months. He shatters the 17 million pound record set by Damien Duff and Mutu last year.

Chelsea initially offered 18.7 million pounds for Drogba but Abramovich was forced to raise the stakes to get Drogba on board before the team fly to the USA tomorrow for their pre-season tour.

Drogba, who scored 29 goals for Marseille last season, is a direct replacement for Argentine flop Crespo, farmed out on a years loan to AC Milan.