Former Chelsea player and now ESPN pundit Craig Burley has revealed what’s surprised him about Nicolas Jackson this season.
Jackson arrived at Chelsea last summer in a deal worth £32m from Spanish side Villarreal and impressed in his debut campaign for the Blues.
The 23-year-old scored 17 goals in all competitions, with 14 of those coming in the Premier League and was rewarded with a new two year contract extension which keeps him at the club until 2033.
Burley on what’s surprised him about Nicolas Jackson
A lot was made of Chelsea’s failure to sign a striker this summer after pursuing Victor Osimhen for the majority of the window, but given Jackson’s start to the season that could be a blessing in disguise.
The Senegal international has had a brilliant start to the campaign with four goals and two assists in the first five games of the season.
Despite Christopher Nkunku’s goalscoring form, Jackson is very much Enzo Maresca’s first choice striker and after being rested against Barrow he’s expected to be restored to the line-up against Brighton on Saturday.
It’s not just his goalscoring that’s been impressive and Jackson has also won plaudits for his hold up and link-up play and former Blue Burley admitted he’s been surprised by that aspect of the striker’s game.
“What I’ve been impressed with, his link up play this season has actually been pretty good,” he told ESPN.
“That’s surprised me because I think he really, really struggled with that last year. He’s much improved there’s no doubt about that.”
Jackson looks a more rounded player already compared to last season and if Chelsea continue to create the same volume of chances they do there’s no reason why he can’t score 20 goals this season.
That has to be Jackson’s target and given the amount of chances he missed last season, if he can brush up on his finishing you wouldn’t bet against him hitting that target this season.
