None of Chelsea current player made the top ten rankings of the 2024 Ballon d’Or award but one player has been tipped to end up on the podium in the nearest future.
Chelsea currently boast of top players like Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Noni Madueke, Joao Felix and lots more. However, former Blues defender Kalidou Koulibaly has tipped Nicolas Jackson to win the Ballon d’Or in the future.
Jackson, 23, has been in great form this season despite receiving widespread criticism for a lack of consistency following a £32million from move Villarreal.
With 14 goals to his name during his first season, Jackson has silenced his doubters this term, racking up six goals and three assists in the English top flight.
Jackson’s international colleague, Koulibaly, has now tipped the forward for greatness, noting that he understands more than most the pressures that comes with being a Chelsea player.
‘I speak all the time with Nicolas because he’s my international team-mate. He’s a young player who I like. I speak a lot with him,’ Koulibaly told GiveMeSport.
‘Nicolas can be a very good player. Edouard Mendy and me, we talk with him a lot because we know how difficult it is arriving from Villarreal to a big club like Chelsea.
‘I give him a lot of advice because he deserves it, and he listens to his elders.
‘Nicolas is a very nice player. Everyone wanted more from him last year, but he is young.
‘It’s true that at Chelsea the demand is very high. They want a lot of goals, assists and players to be very good from the beginning.’
Nicolas Jackson has silenced his doubters (Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Koulibaly has been telling Jackson ‘all the time’ that he can become one of the best players on the planet with a little more self-confidence.
‘I hope he will continue to score. We know for all strikers life is goals and Nicolas is no different,’ he added.
‘He has a good attitude and personality. And for me, he’ll become the story of Senegal, just like Sadio Mane did. I am always telling him he has to follow Mane.
‘I hope he will be the best player in Africa and why not in the world? He has the talent, so all things are at his feet.
‘Nicolas has to believe he can be this good. That is the most important thing. All the players who have won the Ballon d’Or believed they could. They all thought they could win this trophy. So you have to put this in Nicolas’ head.
‘Of course, I don’t tell him to be selfish and ignore his team-mates, but he has to think about the Ballon d’Or, and if you put this image in his head, he can achieve it. And that’s what I tell him all the time.’
The Senegal captain continued: ‘Nicolas has to think he can be the best in Senegal and one of the best in the world and then he will become one of the best in the world.
‘He has to continue to work. With work, he can reach every objective.
‘So I hope he will do at least what Mane did, and be in the top three of the Ballon d’Or. That would be really amazing for him.’
Jackson will be eager to boost his confidence and prove Koulibaly right by playing at top level for Chelsea whenever he’s summoned.
