How Nicolas Jackson converted Dream Team managers from doubters into believers

NICOLAS JACKSON (£4.5m) is a somewhat curious footballer.

The Senegal international has been the punchline of many jokes since his transfer to Chelsea, with even a few of his own fans running low on patience at times.

Last season, he was guilty of several glaring misses and his erratic decision-making made him a frustrating player to watch when things weren’t gelling for the Blues.

While those who regularly watched Jackson would have been baffled from time to time, his first campaign in England was by no means a disaster, far from it.

When all was said and done, he scored 17 goals in all competitions; for comparison, Didier Drogba scored more goals in just two of his nine seasons at Chelsea.

Nobody is sincerely comparing Jackson to Drogba but the point is the former’s output in 2023/24 was well above what one would expect of a flop signing, as many fans of other clubs portrayed him.

And the 23-year-old has improved further at the start of this season, with four goals and three assists from just six outings.

He’s still guilty of the odd brain fade but more and more supporters are viewing the forward as an influential net positive; his understanding with Cole Palmer (£6.2m) is proving particularly fruitful and he disorganises defenders.

And there’s evidence that Dream Team managers are steadily being converted from mocking doubters into believers too.

At the time of writing, Jackson is the third-most recruited player ahead of Gameweek 7.

His ownership has risen to 13.1%, which makes him the fifth-most popular asset in his position.

Jackson’s popularity spike is entirely justified as only Dominic Solanke (£4.2m) has banked more points from his last three outings among forwards.

More broadly, he’s racked up 56 points overall and ranks fourth in his position, just two points shy of third-placed Ollie Watkins (£5.9m).

It will be interesting to see to what extent Jackson features against Gent on Thursday as he played just 27 minutes across Chelsea’s two Conference League play-off legs.

Enzo Maresca has already discussed workload management in relation to European commitments when he explained why Palmer, the club’s talisman, was omitted from the continental squad.

It may be the case that Christopher Nkunku (£4.5m) leads the line from the get-go on Thursday nights – the Frenchman has also scored four goals this season.

Another potential hurdle for Jackson to negotiate in pursuit of more Dream Team points is a testing league schedule across the next six weeks or so.

Chelsea are due to face Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal in their next five outings in the top flight.

That being said, Maresca’s side are the Premier League’s top scorers at present and Jackson has been a key contributor so far.

Who’s laughing now?

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk