Former Chelsea player Shaun Wright-Phillips has been speaking about Nicolas Jackson and admitted the striker has made him eat his words.
Jackson arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2023 from Spanish side Villarreal in a deal wroth £32m and had an impressive debut season.
The 23-year-old scored 17 goals in all competitions, with 14 of those coming in the Premier League and he was rewarded for his efforts with a two year contract extension until 2033.
Wright-Phillips admits Jackson has proved him wrong
A lot was made of Chelsea’s failure to sign a striker in the summer, with the club’s pursuit of Napoli’s Victor Osimhen well publicised.
Former Blue Glen Johnson feels it would be crazy if the Blues didn’t try and sign Osimhen and the Nigerian’s release clause has now been reduced to €75m.
However, Jackson’s start to the season has shown that missing out on a striker may not have been a bad thing and he scored his fifth league goal of the campaign against Liverpool.
Jackson now has eight goal contributions in eight games and Daniel Sturridge recently described the Senegal international as pivot to Chelsea’s system.
The Senegalese has proven many doubters wrong and Wright-Phillips has admitted that Jackson has made him eat his words.
“I like it when players make me eat my words,” he said as cited on X.com.
“I was critical of him last year when he was getting in those areas and he was always making the wrong decisions. Whereas now, he’s making the right decisions. He’s doing all the right things.”
Jackson has made a huge improvement from the end of last season to the start of this one and early evidence suggests his finishing has some what improved.
If Jackson continues improving at the rate he is then there’s a genuine conversation to have about whether Chelsea actually need to go and sign a striker.
