Sport
For all of Chelsea’s spending, their desire to sign a new striker has never gone away. They’ve bought a number of attacking players in recent seasons, but are yet to find a guaranteed source of goals from someone in the final third. Perhaps, though, the man they need is already at the club.
The Blues spent all summer being linked with the likes of Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney. But Nicolas Jackson, a summer signing last season, in a £32m deal from Villarreal, has started this campaign very well. Enzo Maresca’s start at Stamford Bridge has been impressive generally, and a 3-0 win at West Ham on Saturday may have seen a few doubters sit up and take notice. Not least because Jackson, who has often been derided and mocked during his Premier League career, scored twice and looked a real threat.
Chelsea have spent heavily under Maresca, signing the likes of Pedro Neto, Joao Felix and, from his former club Leicester, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Adding the former pair to Jackson, Christian Nkunku, Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho, who grabbed an assist in the game, the Italian has a real job on his hands to find his best team and keep everybody happy.
While he’s proven himself to be ruthless, going public on the futures of Mykhailo Mudryk, Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling, with the latter since joining Arsenal on loan, he has also given a new lease of life to a few players who looked like their Chelsea careers were done. Noni Madueke has made himself a key player overnight with a hat-trick against Wolves recently, and Jackson looked every bit the striker they need at the London Stadium.
Maresca himself singled the 23-year-old Senegalese striker out for praise on Saturday.
“We are completely 100% happy with Nicolas,” he told BBC Sport.
“He has been working hard since I arrived. He is very good on the ball in terms of numbers. We are very happy.”
Nothing can ever be set in stone at Chelsea; their squad is unique in its size and make up. But Jackson has an advantage over a number of his teammates in that he can answer a tactical conundrum others can’t. Although he has been treated roughly by neutrals and people outside the club since he arrived, mainly due to the number of chances he misses despite scoring 15 goals last season, he has all the attributes to become an attacking force; he’s big, strong, quick and powerful. All he needs to do is find more consistency in front of goal to become the definitive answer for Maresca.
Jackson’s early Chelsea career has not been too dissimilar to that of a former Blues legend, Didier Drogba. He arrived at the age of 26, older than Jackson, and took time to find his feet in terms of a real goal scoring return. Although Jose Mourinho’s side ended a 50-year wait for a title in his first season, Drogba only scored 16 goals in all competitions, 10 in the Premier League. There were questions over his ability to step up to the rigours of English football despite his physical prowess. It took three seasons for the Ivorian to hit 20 league goals, before he never really looked back.
Patience has not been a virtue at Chelsea for much of the last 20 years. But now, with this squad, players need to deliver instantly to survive. That is perhaps why Jackson has been disregarded in many ways.
He is not perfect and still very raw. But perhaps it is time people looked at what he is doing rather than focussing on his struggles. He has shown enough to deserve some much needed time to hit his stride. Under Maresca, the early signs are at least positive and it might just be the making of him.
