by Six years ago, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was playing barefoot football in his hometown of Senegal and his life was so far removed from the wealth and glamor of the Premier League that he had never owned a pair of boots.
In fact, the mere fact that Jackson explains how difficult it was for him to adapt to playing in football boots is a striking reminder of how far he has come (and how quickly he has come) from Ziguinchor, a nine-hour drive south from Dakar, to Stamford Bridge, via Villarreal.
During a revealing half-hour at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground, Jackson spoke about his path to the Premier League and provided Telegraph Sport with personal photographs of the place where it all began and where his mother, Jeanne Malack, worked day and night. a farm.
“In Ziguinchor, it was playing in the street, playing just with your friends,” Jackson said. “There is no club, you just play because you love the game. Maybe playing, for one euro each, against each other. Having fun, playing without boots. Just barefoot or maybe borrow someone’s boots to play with.”
When asked if he had his own boots as a child, Jackson replied: “No, boots were expensive. He played with my school shoes or barefoot. Maybe when I was 16 was when I bought my first boots. My mom bought them for me, they were cheap, not like the original boots. They were second-hand boots. At first I didn’t play with them because I wasn’t used to them. He was used to playing with bare feet. So he took time, it was a little strange.
“When I was a child, I loved Cristiano Ronaldo. He had his name on a t-shirt that he always wore. It’s not a real shirt because they are expensive so you don’t buy them. But he had a shirt on which I put the 7, Ronaldo, with a pen. I did it myself when I was a kid.
“Of course, I would pretend to be him, but it was difficult to watch his games because you had to pay. We would go to my friend’s house, all of us. We watched it in a large group, never with just one person in the house. “All my friends were all going to a house to watch Real Madrid.”
Jackson’s admiration for Ronaldo explains why he scored the first hat-trick of his career, against a nine-man Tottenham Hotspur, with the Portuguese striker’s famous ‘yayah’ celebration.
“I always celebrated, even when I was at Villarreal and I scored two goals,” said Jackson, 22. “So when I got a hat-trick, I had to do it. Now I will only do it for the hat-tricks, not for all the goals.
“It was the first hat-trick of my career. It was very special. The ball is in my living room so everyone can see it. I hope there are many more, but the first one is always very important and I will try to keep it very safe.”
If his hat-trick helps represent how far he has come and adds context to the ‘yayah’ celebration, then another ball is significant to Jackson’s belief that he was born to be a footballer.
“My mom and dad said that when I was young, before I spoke, they bought me a ball. To make me sleep I had to be with the ball. I was a baby. They didn’t take my photo because there was no camera, but I slept with a ball. If I woke up and couldn’t see the ball, I would cry. Everyone told me that. Football was something I had to do. It’s like something that God gives you and he tells you ‘you are going to do this.’”
‘I needed to choose my own path’
That determination and belief convinced Jackson to leave school at the age of 16, even though he had never played for one of Senegal’s academies and had yet to attract interest from any professional clubs.
“In Senegal, some children go to an academy, but my family, on my father’s side, it’s not that they didn’t want me to play, but they asked me ‘are you going to succeed in football?’ because it is very difficult,” Jackson said.
“You have to choose between going to school or trying to play football. I left school and everyone was mad at me. If I didn’t succeed in football, I don’t know what I would do. They wanted me to go to school and finish everything, but I needed to choose my own path.
“I had to fight and be strong. He didn’t go to parties, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink. I haven’t done it yet. I had a lot of friends who did that, but I knew I was alone and if it didn’t work out, it was going to be a difficult life. “I’m not the only one who had a difficult life in Africa, so I wasn’t afraid of that.”
Despite being angry about his decision to leave school, Jackson’s mother worked day and night to support her son, who believes, no matter how much he earns at Chelsea, will never be able to repay his debt to her.
“You know mothers, they just do whatever it takes for you,” Jackson said. “They just love you and always support you. I didn’t go to school, but she was always supporting me and helping me.
“She worked on a farm. Many people farmed the land where I come from. I would have to work from morning to night to support myself. She would grow and then sell. She would sell everything, peanuts, watermelon. I played soccer, I didn’t sell with her or make money.
“I don’t want her to do anything now. She is still in Senegal, she wants to work, but I don’t want her to. She doesn’t want to sit in one place, so we’ll have to see.
“You can’t pay your mom and dad, ever. Especially your mom because she had you in her stomach for nine months. Everything you do for her will never be enough. “I always try to do what I can to make her happy.”
Jackson’s big break came when he was discovered by former Fulham striker Diomansy Kamara and, aged 17, he joined Casa Sports, who play in Senegal’s top professional division, for the 2018/19 season. Following a trial at Benfica, he moved to Villarreal in Spain before being signed by Chelsea for £32m this summer.
“I was playing in the street, but some agents came to watch the games,” Jackson explained. “Diomansy held a tournament for the best players in Ziguinchor and he just saw me there. From there I went to Home in the First Division. Maybe seven months there and then to Spain.
“I never went to a football school. He just played in the street, he was fast and he could dribble. But when I went to Spain, Unai Emery was there and he developed me.”
Aside from the English weather, the biggest shock to Jackson’s system since moving to Chelsea has been the scrutiny on him and his teammates.
During the defeat to Brentford, Jackson was distracted by a fan who yelled at him to “wake up” while speaking to manager Mauricio Pochettino and after the game his goal-scoring instincts were questioned by two former forwards turned experts, Alan Shearer and Peter Crouch. .
“I have to apologize to the fan,” Jackson said. “I never had this before. At Villarreal they play without so much pressure because they are a different team, but I know they come from a good place.
“I usually don’t talk to fans or get distracted by what they say. I do not know what happened to me. It must have been frustration. It’s no small feat, everyone in the game expects you to do what they want you to do. It’s because they love you, not because they hate you. They want you to make them happy. Now I know. I was in Villarreal, but it was a different environment. You don’t have this kind of thing there. In Chelsea it is different.”
When asked about the criticism he received from Shearer and Crouch, Jackson added: “Cristiano would score 30 or 35 goals a season and people would criticize him. You’d never hear him talk about it, he’d just respond with celebration. So it doesn’t affect me. I’m learning from him, I would never respond to criticism. “I know what I can do, I believe in myself.”
As many yellow cards as goals
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Newcastle United, Jackson has seven goals for Chelsea, the last of which came against Manchester City before the international break. He also has seven yellow cards and has already served a one-match suspension after receiving five yellow cards in his first six league games.
Pochettino said he would fine Jackson for his five cautions “not in the way you think, it’s not money” and the player believes he served a punishment.
“One day I was running and I didn’t know why,” Jackson said. “Maybe that was it. I was dead that day, I think that was my punishment. They just called me to run away. I said ‘why, what happened’, but I just had to run. They were laps, very hard, the intensity, then I was lying down when I finished. I think that was it.
“The coach spoke to me and told me to be careful. When you show a card, you receive a yellow card. That was the main thing. “I’m planning to change that.”
So will Jackson finish the season with more goals or yellow cards? “I don’t care if I get 40 yellow cards if I score 30 goals! I have an objective (goals) in my mind. I’ll tell you at the end of the season if I get there. “I’m sure I will.”
