Former Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly has chosen Nicolas Jackson over Cole Palmer as the player he thinks can win a Ballon d’Or in the future.
Cole Palmer’s brilliant performances for Chelsea have ensured that some of the displays from his club teammates have gone unnoticed. One of them is Nicolas Jackson, who has scored nine goals in the Premier League in as many games this season.
Jackson is coming off a difficult debut season with Chelsea, where he scored 14 goals and 5 assists. Either way, Chelsea were prepared to sign a top-drawer striker in Victor Osimhem in the summer, and had the Noigerian arrived, it would have had a direct effect on Jackson’s minutes in Enzo Maresca’s side this term.
Cole Palmer is already seen as a future Ballon d’Or contender if he improves on his current form and maintains consistency. However, former Blues defender Kalidou Koulibaly has picked Jackson ahead of Palmer to win the personal accolade in the future, as his comments on Give Me Sport suggested.
Koulibaly said: “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 teammates, 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.”
“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.”
This is massive praise for Jackson, who did extend his Chelsea deal in September following the summer window’s closure. However, there are still considerable doubts about his abilities, although a brilliant season with the club this time would elevate his reputation in the market.
Aston Villa were interested, but Chelsea were never going to entertain offers despite their considerable interest in Osimhen in the summer. However, the talk of a future Ballon d’Or might be a bit premature, considering the last African player to win it was George Weah in 1995, and not a single star from the continent has won since.
The more important part is that between 1995 and now, there have been some tremendous African stars like Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, and Samuel Eto’o, all of whom won major honours during their club careers and are considered great figures of the game. Hence, for Jackson to win the Ballon d’Or, it would take a massive display of consistency and goalscoring ability to even come into that conversation in the future.
