Nicolas Jackson scored his first goal in the colours of Chelsea as the Blues cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over newly-promoted Luton Town in the Premier League on Friday night.
The Senegalese forward is a new signing from Villarreal where he finished as the La Liga Player of the Month for May and scored six goals in that month which was more than any other player.
He scored a total of 12 goals in 26 La Liga matches which prompted Chelsea to fork out £32 million for his services this summer as they needed to address their problems in the centre forward position.
Jackson showed promise in Chelsea’s first two games against Liverpool and West Ham United even though none ended with a win. That victory finally came against Luton with Jackson scoring the third and final goal in the 75th minute after Raheem Sterling netted a brace in either half.
Jackson’s goal mirrored that of club icon Didier Drogba. The Ivory Coast legend joined Chelsea in 2004 from Olympique Marseille and like Jackson, did not score on his debut until his third match against newly-promoted Crystal Palace which ended in a 2-0 win.
The interesting similarity is that Drogba and Jackson both scored their first Chelsea goals in their third league match. They did this against newly-promoted sides and both wore the number 15 jersey.
Jackson has already been compared to Drogba who won 14 titles at Stamford Bridge including four Premier League and one UEFA Champions League title. He scored a total of 164 goals for the club over a combined nine years in two spells.
Former Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink however said it was unfair to make such a comparison, stressing that Jackson still has a lot of potential.
“They’re totally different. If you talk about Didier Drogba that’s not fair on the boy. But we all know that his runs his work rate is absolutely magnificent,” Hasselbaink stated on Sky Sports.
“I actually think he’s doing too much. I want to see him around the box a little bit more, but I want his team-mates to find him a little bit more around the box.
“These are the kind of things he can do and that Didier Drogba wouldn’t do. You know dribble the ball through the middle of the pitch for a long time and then passing it to his team-mate.
“He’s got so much potential. The only thing I’m a little disappointed about is against west ham they had a penalty, and [he should have] taken the ball as a striker and got your first goal.”
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Chelsea boss, Mauricio Pochettino, speaking after the game, believes Jackson can be one of the Premier League’s greatest strikers.
“It is really important for him [to get off the mark] because he is a young player, coming in from a different league,” the Argentine tactician explained. “The Premier League is always difficult [to adapt to].
“We asked him to run, to press in the phase when we don’t have the ball. Then the quality with his feet, to run with the ball and to link with his team-mates. He can become one of the greatest strikers in the Premier League with time.”
Jackson will be hoping to have his scoring boots on once again when Chelsea face AFC Wimbledon in the second round of the EFL Cup on Wednesday followed by a Premier League home tie with Nottingham Forest before the commencement of the two-week international break.
