Nicolas Jackson is proving to be one of the Premier League’s best strikers as he continues his remarkable rise to stardom.
While many fans will admire the finished article, having scored eight goals in 14 games for Chelsea this season, it was with LaLiga side Villarreal that the 23-year-old showed his undoubted qualities for the first time.
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The striker joined the club from Senegalese club Casa Sports in September 2019, joining the LaLiga side’s famous youth system, which has produced stars such as Santi Cazorla, Rodri, Pau Torres and Filip Jorgensen, among others.
One of his former teammates is current Villarreal star and vice-captain Alex Baena, who is already one of the biggest stars in the Spanish top flight.
Speaking to The Pitch Prospect.com about Jackson, he recalled: “We were together here in Villarreal for three or four years.”
“He’s a fantastic guy, a great person. We had a great connection off the pitch. On the pitch he is always required to improve his quality in order to be able to interact with his teammates.
“I think he’s improved a lot this year. He has improved his ball control and his connection with his teammates.
“He has great potential and he showed it this year. He scored a lot of goals.”
One man who knew Jackson better than most in his formative years is Villarreal’s director of football Miguel Angel Tena.
Tena, who played for Villarreal before becoming coach of the famous youth team, mentored the striker after he joined the club and had nothing but positive things to say about him.
Tena told The Pitch Prospect.com: “I have a special affection because when Jackson landed at Villarreal, I was the coach in the under-18s category at the time.”
“So I was his coach and was able to experience the entire adjustment phase of his arrival in Villarreal. I had the pleasure of training him.
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“Jackson is an extraordinary boy, a great person with very important human values. From then on, everyone at the club saw that his development and process was faster than that of a player of the age at which Jackson arrived at the club.
After proving his qualities for Villarreal B, the decision was made to let him move to Spanish second division side Mirandes – a decision Tena believes he made himself.
He explained: “There was a moment where, before we took the step into professional football, we decided that the best option for him was to move to a second division team because we still understood that he was up for it The team was not prepared for the requirements of the first division team.
“I think it was a success because it made him more mature to go to a club like Mirandés, where he could leave Villarreal.
“He was able to mature, he was able to live with professionals in a club with a different structure to Villarreal.”
“It helped him a lot because when he returned to Villarreal he had a great season and he helped us a lot to get promotion to the second division, to professional football.
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“At that moment, Unai Emery, who was the coach, decided that it was time to bet on him and that he could get the opportunity to play for the first team.
“He alone – because of his work, his perseverance, his commitment – managed to score some very important goals with us in the first division and he attracted the interest of big clubs, in this case Chelsea, who made the decision “buy Jackson.”
It was these qualities that ultimately led to his exit.
After scoring 13 goals in 48 games for Villarreal, Chelsea had seen enough and completed a £32m deal to sign Jackson in the summer of 2023.
While building a reputation as a selling club would be frustrating for many, Villarreal sees it as a compliment to its primary mission of developing young players.
Tena said: “It is a great honor for us that so many European clubs are interested in some of our players. This means that we have good players and that they can play in a different team and in a different competition.
“We think we’ll try to enjoy them while we have them with us and take care of them as best we can so they can spend a lot of time with us.”
“We don’t think about them leaving. But if they leave at some point, because it’s about football and everyone wants to improve both on a salary level and on a sporting level, we are happy that they can leave too.
“Any player who has trained at Villarreal or is in Villarreal’s first squad and moves to Italy, England, Germany or wherever gives us great prestige because these clubs sign a good player from Villarreal, and that’s the case. “An opportunity for us to form an alliance with all European clubs.
“It’s the law of football. If this situation arises, we will work on it. Like every season, we are working, analyzing the market to make the best decisions and be prepared in case this situation arises.”
On Jackson, Pena added: “If we understand that a footballer has completed a cycle in Villarreal – in this case Chelsea, which can give him economic and sporting advantages that we cannot achieve, we have to help the professional.”
“In this case we had to sit down with Jackson, he made the decision that it was time to go, we understood that it was time to go and we are very proud to see him in the Premier League is going very well.” League, that he competes very well with Chelsea, that he is growing every day as a young player.
“He scores a lot of goals, which is one of his main characteristics, and that is a point of pride for us because he is a player who was trained in the lower divisions, who has made it into the first team and is playing at a great level.” Premier League level.”
After a solid first season at Chelsea, Jackson is now one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
With the Blues hoping for a title challenge, the 23-year-old hopes to continue on the path that Villarreal are very proud of.