The secrets of Nicolas Jackson’s rise to become Chelsea’s elite executioner

Enzo Maresca could do with a few bottles of Hiruzta Txakoli for Unai Emery's visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday – the white wine from the Spaniard's vineyard in Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa, is his poison of choice.

For the Aston Villa manager is worthy of gratitude as he was a catalyst for Nicolas Jackson to become the increasingly elite executioner he is for Chelsea today.

Although their collaboration at Villarreal only totaled 27 appearances, Jackson found it self-defining. So much so that the 23-year-old Senegalese even took the time to thank Emery after receiving his contract increase at Stamford Bridge in September.

Rarely will you hear a Premier League player thank the manager of a rival club after extra time, but Jackson did. To understand why, it's first worth going back to the time before he had received his Emery education.

When he was a barefoot street footballer operating on instinct with friends in the town of Ziguinchor, Senegal. When he played on Earth so orange it looked like the surface of Mars, and considering the pristine fields he now practices on, it was indeed a world away.

Jackson was 16 years old before he owned his first pair of football boots, a second-hand set that his mother, Jeanne Malack, had bought for him after sacrificing her wages selling peanuts, watermelons and whatever she could grow on the farm where she worked tirelessly.

It took time for the teenager to adapt to that new sensation, as he wore it while wearing his own homemade Cristiano Ronaldo jersey: a plain T-shirt with 'Ronaldo' and '7' scrawled in pen on the back .

It was in 2018 when Diomansy Kamara – the former Portsmouth, West Brom and Fulham striker who won 50 caps for Senegal – organized a tournament for Ziguinchor's talents to showcase their skills. Jackson, then 17, impressed enough to be picked up by Casa Sports, his local club that competes in the Senegalese top flight, where he experienced real, organized, professional football for the first time.

It took only a few months for him to start attracting the attention of Europe's elite. First from Benfica in Portugal, although that test was not a success. Then from Villarreal in Spain.

That was a success, because at the age of 18, the 'Senegalese Neymar' – as he had become known locally – signed for La Liga in September 2019, initially representing their B team under Miguel Alvarez.

Emery's July 2020 arrival at Villarreal was game-changing for Jackson. He had pace, he could dribble, he had stamina, but his rawness needed to be refined.

After a loan at Mirandes in the Spanish second division, Emery went to work, with orders to stop dropping deep as a false nine. It was drilled into Jackson that he should concentrate on remaining a regular number 9, letting the ball find him rather than the other way around and bursting in behind the opposition backline.

Due to his upbringing, he had never been a student of a football school. Villarreal's other players had been produced by acclaimed academies – Dani Parejo, for example, was a Real Madrid alumnus – but Jackson came from the vibe-driven streets of Senegal.

Emery's lessons helped shape him as he began to learn how to best utilize his attacking attributes, with Jackson also told to work on perfecting his composure in the penalty area.

Mail Sport was told this week that when Boulaye Dia and Paco Alcacer left Villarreal in August 2022, club chiefs encouraged Emery to sign a striker, especially with Arnaut Danjuma sidelined.

He politely told them not to waste their money as he had a plan: catch Jackson fast. As one source says: 'Unai was the one who said, “You can start your journey with us.” He gave him that opportunity, which Nicolas took advantage of. He supported him in the best way.”

Jackson was appointed as Emery's starting striker in the 2022-23 season, but when his mentor left midway through that season to become manager of Villa – the Premier League club that activated Emery's £5.2m release clause – the 21-year-old explored also its own Exit.

This is where people close to Jackson like to cite a story that shows his resilience – the story of how he responded when his dream move to the Premier League collapsed in January 2023.

Jackson would move to Bournemouth from Villarreal for £20.8 million and even fly to the south coast of England to complete the transfer. But the buying club were concerned about a hamstring injury he had at the time, fearing a lengthy layoff as his medical treatment failed.

Bournemouth have since accepted they made a mistake – a big one as Jackson refused to be carried away by the dejection of the rejection. He was driven by it before, returning to Villarreal in March and scoring 10 times in La Liga in April and May – more than Chelsea managed collectively in the Premier League in the same months they finished 12th under Frank Lampard.

By the summer, Villarreal's valuation had increased from the £20.8 million previously agreed with Bournemouth. Chelsea paid £32m to sign him in June 2023, but ask the Blues today and they'll tell you he's worth double that – at least – after his impressive performances in the Premier League this season.

However, it was not all rosy in his first season in 2023/24, when he missed more than he scored and became a target for rival fans and a subject of ire for Chelsea supporters. He even had an encounter with a Blues fan who shouted at him to 'wake up' during a 2-0 defeat to Brentford in October 2023, then went to the fan and shouted back. But brickbats are now praise.

It's hard not to view Jackson through the lens of Didier Drogba as an African striker who took the number 15 on arrival at Stamford Bridge. Yet the Senegalese is tired of the comparisons and tells those who bring it up that he is a 'legend' of Chelsea, while he is a 'nobody' who is still finding his way.

Hard on themselves perhaps, but not the worst mentality you can have. Mind you, it's worth noting that Drogba scored 23 goals in his first 57 games for Chelsea, and Jackson is currently on 24 out of 57, and it's now up to Maresca to continue what Emery did years ago in Spain started with.

He's far from the finished article, but Chelsea is pleased with Jackson's progress. Only Erling Haaland and Ollie Watkins have scored more non-penalty goals since the start of last season, and he is now locked up until 2033 after agreeing a two-year extension.

The Blues spend relatively low basic salaries by Premier League standards to keep their stars hungry, but their contracts are heavily boosted with bonuses.

“They will reward you if you prove you're worth it,” a source told Mail Sport this week. 'Nicolas was pressured to come to Chelsea and start straight away as a starter, but he did. It's nice that you can say it's still incredibly raw. He will get even better over time.”

During an interview in the summer for the Chelsea vacancy, Maresca told the club's sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, that he was 'in love' with the squad they had put together, including the acquisition of Jackson.

There were discussions about whether they should sign another striker – and they came close to signing Victor Osimhen from Napoli – but Maresca insisted he was perfectly happy with Jackson leading his front line when no one else came in.

For good reason too. While Italy's predecessor Mauricio Pochettino has flirted with using Jackson as a left winger – as he did in their 3-1 FA Cup win over Villa last season – Maresca has only seen him as a striker.

Of all his attributes, it is the contribution he makes on the ball that his head coach admires most. Jackson ranks fifth among all Premier League players for pressure placed on opposition defenders in the final third, and fourth for total runs scored out of possession, outperforming his xG stats (expected goals), which show that he is a better than… average finisher.

Jackson never forgot where he came from, sending truckloads of food to locals in Ziguinchor, Senegal, and Banjul, the capital of Gambia – where he was born and raised until his family moved in his late teens to escape the troubled aftermath of the war. elections that marked the end of the country's twenty-year military dictatorship.

He also returned to Cobham after the most recent international break dressed in traditional African clothing and received compliments from Moises Caicedo, his close friend who is managed by the same agency, Epic Sports.

Jackson is also not one to forget those who helped him along the way, which is why we can expect a warm hug when he sees Emery at Stamford Bridge. Villa's manager gave the striker his start in top-flight football, but hopes he will forget his lessons for 90 minutes on Sunday.