When Didier Drogba first arrived in Montreal he found hundreds – possibly thousands – of fans to greet him. Not all of those at Trudeau airport were Impact supporters, of course: some were wearing Chelsea shirts, and others were in Ivory Coast and even Galatasaray kit. It wasn’t necessarily a show of Major League Soccer’s strength, but a promise of where the league could go with stars like Drogba now part of the package.

However, the Ivorian’s MLS career might have been a fleeting one. Drogba is now considering another Premier League return, with Chelsea offering him a coaching role under interim head coach Guus Hiddink. With the recent scheduling of 2016’s fixtures, Mauro Biello can start planning for the season ahead, although whether he can do so with Drogba in mind is still to be settled.

And so the usual debate has kicked up once more – the one prompted by every potential high-profile MLS departure. What does Drogba’s prospective exit say about the league’s development? What does it mean for the Montreal Impact? Has his six-month spell in MLS set a precedent for French-language players, opening minds to the notion of a North American move? Was it all worthwhile?

Everything MLS does is viewed through the prism of the division’s development. Every player signed, every franchise admitted, goes under the microscope to determine what they can bring to North American soccer – and what legacy they will leave behind. It’s all rather tedious, and in fact goes against the premise of such a discussion. It won’t be until chat of this type is banished that MLS can truly claim to have matured as a league.

If indeed Drogba does return to Stamford Bridge, MLS should remember him for what he was to the league, rather than what he could have been or what he left behind. His 12 goals in just 14 league appearances should be taken as his legacy, because to draw more from his spell with the Montreal Impact as anything else would be merely guesswork. Appreciation of Drogba needn’t be so profound.

Of course, European leagues, from time to time, ponder their respective standing in the global game – with the Premier League in particular somewhat paranoid at whether divisions like the Bundesliga and La Liga have edged ahead in the continental pecking order. Yet not even England’s top-flight, with all its megalomania, tears itself apart like MLS does in the event of a high-profile departure.

Not even second-tier European leagues react to big-name player exits like MLS. When Virgil van Dijk left Celtic for Southampton last summer, there was scant discussion over what the move meant for the future of Scottish soccer. Portugal’s Primeira Liga didn’t ponder what impact Danilo’s switch to Real Madrid would have, or what legacy he would leave behind. Questions were asked of how both players would be replaced by their clubs, but no pan-league conclusions were drawn.

That could be down to ambition, of course. Neither Scottish nor Portuguese soccer is as bullish about their objectives as MLS – which explicitly aims to be one of the sport’s best leagues by 2022. MLS’s adolescence must also be factored in. With only 19 seasons under its belt, it’s perhaps only natural that talk of the division’s progress and improvement remains constant. It provides the criteria against everything is judged – for better or worse.

In a sense, North American soccer must find itself some arrogance. Without it, how can MLS ever expect to become one of the soccer’s greatest leagues? Of course, the league does an excellent job of selling itself, packaging the sport for a native audience, but a more assured rhetoric is needed when projecting outwards. Status is largely about impression – maybe even illusion at times – and MLS is simply too candid about itself.

To indulge the discussion momentarily, Drogba’s departure would be a consequence of individual circumstance rather than a condemnation of North American soccer. Stamford Bridge is something of a spiritual home for the Ivorian, with Chelsea’s offer too tempting to turn down. Drogba wouldn’t have left for any other club. It’s not so much that the Montreal Impact have been rebuffed, but that London’s calling is irresistible.

A better gauge of where MLS is as a league, and how it is regarded in the wider soccer sphere, can be taken from the likes of Fredy Montero and Andy Najar’s departures. Both players were among the brightest young talents the North American game had to offer, but still viewed Europe as the natural stepping stone in the progression of their careers. When such stars feel MLS can deliver their professional ambitions, the league will have finally reached complete fruition.

Until then, however, discussion will persist over the impact of each and every transfer made by each and every team. Such talk was once prompted by winter loan moves – when David Beckham perennially fled Carson every January for a spells in Milan or Paris, or when Robbie Keane spent six games at Aston Villa over the MLS off-season. Those moves aren’t quite so common any longer, but the deliberation remains.

Not even Drogba’s decision to stay in Montreal would be enough to stave off debate. The discussion would simply be held over until the next high-profile exit – perhaps until Steven Gerrard returns to Liverpool, or Bradley Wright-Phillips fancies one more crack at the Premier League. And in such case, MLS will only inadvertently highlight its own immaturity, and how far it still has to evolve, by entering its verbal torture-chamber again.

For the Montreal Impact, though, they are primarily concerned with keeping hold of their best player. “Day after day, after day after day after day, I repeat the same words: please don’t go. Please don’t go to Chelsea, to Chelsea, which is really … far,” French-language poet Heinrich Heineken rhymed in a YouTube video shared on social media.

It probably won’t make for much of a terrace chant, but it does sum up how every Impact fan feels right now. If only the rest of MLS’s worries over Drogba were quite so singular.