Former Napoli star says this Chelsea attacker can win Ballon d'Or – and it's not Cole Palmer

10/31/2024 03:22 PM

Ben Jacobs has been doing cracking work for GiveMeSport recently, and the latest thing to come from that was a chat with former Chelsea and Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly.

Jacobs went through his whole career, including his brief time with Chelsea, but more than anything we were interested in what he had to say about one of our current players: Nicolas Jackson.

The pair are Senegal teammates, so Koulibaly knows him well, even though they didn't coincide at Stamford Bridge. The defender backs his countryman to be a truly great player – and perhaps even win the biggest individual award in the game.

Koulibaly backs top player Jackson for Ballon d'Or

"I hope he will continue to score. We know for all strikers life is goals, and Nicolas is no different. He has a good attitude and personality. And for me, he'll become the story of Senegal, just like Sadio Mane did. I am always telling him he has to follow Mane. And I hope he will be the best player in Africa and why not in the world? He has the talent, so all things are at his feet," Koulibaly said of his old teammate.

"Nicolas has to believe he can be this good. That is the most important thing. All the players who have won the Ballon d'Or believed they could. They all thought they could win this trophy. So you have to put this in Nicolas' head.

"Of course, I don't tell him to be selfish and ignore his teammates, but he has to think about the Ballon d'Or, and if you put this image in his head, he can achieve it. And that's what I tell him all the time."

We'd be delighted to see it happen, and the improvement we've seen in Jackson's game over the last year is phenomenal. There's no telling where he can end up if he keeps up his hard work. Of course he doesn't need a Ballon d'Or to be a great player for Chelsea and win plenty of trophies along the way.