'He has the talent' – Ex-Chelsea star tips Nicolas Jackson to win Ballon d'Or
10/31/2024 10:52 AM
Nicolas Jackson has been tipped to win the Ballon d’Or during his career.
The Chelsea forward has silenced his doubters this season, has established himself as the club’s first-choice striker and one of the best in the Premier League.
Jackson joined the Blues from Villarreal last summer in a £32million deal.
The 23-year-old has been widely ridiculed for his wasteful finishing since his arrival from Spain, but he has been in stunning form so far this season with nine direct goal contributions [six goals, three assists] in as many Premier League matches.
He has 23 goals and nine assists in 54 total appearances for the west Londoners.
And as his stock rises at Stamford Bridge, an international teammate and former Chelsea man has tipped Jackson to become one of the best players in the world.
Kalidou Koulibaly, who spent the 2022/23 season with the Blues, revealed he has been giving advice to his compatriot.
The defender exclusively told talkSPORT: “For me, Nicolas can be a very good player.
“He is still young, everybody was wanting more from him last year but they forget that he is a young player.
“With Edouard Mendy, we speak a lot with him because we know it is difficult when you arrive from Villarreal to a big club like Chelsea.
“Nicolas Jackson for me is a player who could be very good, a very nice player.
“At Chelsea the demand is really high. They want a lot of goals, a lot of assists, to be a very good player from the beginning. But we know Nicolas can be very good.”
Koulibaly even believes Jackson can one day lift the coveted Ballon d’Or award as the best player in European football, following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and 2024 winner Rodri.
The Al-Hilal defender, speaking to talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs in Saudi Arabia, said: “It will be very important to let the time speak because he showed it from the beginning.
“He has already scored seven goals -this is really good for a player like him and I hope that he will continue to score.
“We know that for a striker, their life is the goals and he knows it. He has a good attitude, he has a good personality, which is important in a club like Chelsea.
“And for me he will make the story of Senegal, I am telling him all the time, like Sadio Mane did it.
“He has the talent to do it and I hope he will be part of the best players in Africa and why not in the world. I try to give him advice but he has all the talent in his feet to do it and I hope that he will.”
Jackson has played alongside Koulibaly 15 times for Senegal so far in his career.
He would become the first Senegalese winner of the Ballon d’Or, with Sadio Mane previously coming second in 2022 during his career with Liverpool.
Meanwhile, former Liberia striker George Weah is the only African winner after he claimed the award in 1995.
