Let's try to make sense of the confusion around Didier Drogba's retirement

Um. What?

Or as FC Yahoo's editor Joe Lago more eloquently put it in a text: "Huh?"

Word reached us Wednesday afternoon that Didier Drogba, lately of the Montreal Impact, was retiring. Per a report from the usually reliable French outlet l'Equipe, the Ivorian striker was calling it quits on a lengthy and laureled career that included all manner of prizes with Chelsea, brief intermissions in China and Turkey, a return to the Blues, and half a year with the Impact.

Up North, he had rejuvenated a well-supported but moribund MLS franchise that seemed unable to get out of its own way. He smacked in 11 goals in the last 11 games of the regular season, pushed the Impact into the playoffs and then helped them reach the conference semifinals.

Drogba had always been a late bloomer. He didn't really become a star until he joined Chelsea at 26 and then-manager Jose Mourinho promised to make the unremarkable striker into one of the world's best – and then delivered, to the surprise of even Drogba himself. Now, at 37, he seemed to have a fair amount of gas left in the tank.

So his apparent retirement felt like a significant blow to the Impact and to MLS, both of whom were losing a high-performing superstar. But it was understandable. He was reportedly joining Chelsea for the third time, only now as a coach under new interim manager Guus Hiddink. Chelsea is his soccer home and the move had been rumored for weeks. Fair enough.

But then things got strange. The Impact didn't seem to know about any of this.

That's when the man himself chimed in.

There are a number of possibilities.

1. Drogba does intend to retire but hasn't yet announced his decision to the Impact, who are trying to convince him to stay on.

2. He's in the midst of negotiating his exit from his Impact contract, which runs for another year. Or he hasn't actually signed on with Chelsea yet. Either way, things aren't formalized yet and Drogba is reluctant to announce anything at this time, or surrender his leverage to either side.

3. He's been made a job offer by Chelsea and he doesn't know whether he wants to take it yet.

Either way. Stay tuned.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.