Nico Jackson reveals Man Utd legend inspired him

Robin Bairner

25 Nov 2023 09:26 GMT
3 min read

Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea, 2023/24 — © ProShots

Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo inspired him when he was growing up in Senegal, playing football without boots as he honed his game just six years before a Premier League move.

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Jackson completed a €37 million transfer to Chelsea this summer from Villarreal, and though he has had a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge, he has still managed to score six goals in 11 Premier League matches.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino has suggested he can become one of the greatest Premier League strikers of all time, which is in sharp contrast to his humble upbringing, in which he would dream about Ronaldo’s achievements.

“When I was growing up, I loved Cristiano Ronaldo. I had his name on a shirt that I always wore. Not an actual shirt because they are expensive, so you don’t buy them. But I had a shirt that I put 7, Ronaldo on with a pen. I did it myself when I was a kid,” he told The Telegraph.

“Of course, I would pretend to be him, but it was difficult to watch his games because you needed to pay. We would go to my friend’s house, everybody. We would watch in a large group, never just with one person in the house. All my friends, we’d all go to one house to watch Real Madrid.

“I always did his celebration, even when I was at Villarreal and I scored two goals, so when I got a hat-trick against Tottenham, I had to do it. Now I’ll only do it for hat-tricks, not every goal.”

Nico Jackson: I was 16 when I got my first football boots!

While Ronaldo was charming millions, Jackson has revealed he’s relatively new to playing football in the proper equipment.

“Boots were expensive. I played in my school shoes or with bare feet,” the 22-year-old said. “Maybe 16 was when I got my first boots. My mum bought me them, they were cheap, not like original boots. They were second-hand boots. I didn’t play with them to start with because I was not used to them. I was used to playing with my bare feet. So it took time, it was a bit strange.”

Jackson will hope to be showing off Ronaldo’s celebration again, with Chelsea making a difficult trip to Newcastle on Saturday in Premier League action.