‘I played football barefoot until six years ago’: Nicolas Jackson’s incredible journey to Chelsea

Six years ago, the Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was playing football barefoot in his hometown in Senegal and his life was so far removed from the wealth and glamour of the Premier League that he had never owned a pair of boots.

Indeed, the very fact that Jackson explains how hard he found it to adjust to playing in football boots is a jolting reminder of how far he has come – and how quickly he has done so – from Ziguinchor, nine hours drive south of Dakar, to Stamford Bridge, via Villarreal.

During an illuminating half-an-hour at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground, Jackson opened up on his path to the Premier League and provided Telegraph Sport with personal photographs of the place it all started and where his mother, Jeanne Malack, worked day and night on a farm.

“In Ziguinchor, it was playing on the streets, playing with your friends only,” said Jackson. “No club, just playing because you love the game. Maybe playing, one euro each, against each other. Having fun, playing without boots. Just barefoot or maybe you borrow someone’s boots to play.”

Asked if he had his own boots as a child, Jackson replied: “No, boots were expensive. I played in my school shoes or with bare feet. 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.

“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.

“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.”

Jackson’s admiration of Ronaldo explains why he marked his first career hat-trick, against nine-man Tottenham Hotspur, with the Portuguese forward’s famous ‘siuuu’ celebration.

“I always did his celebration, even when I was at Villarreal and I scored two goals,” said 22-year-old Jackson. “So when I got a hat-trick, I had to do it. Now I’ll only do it for hat-tricks, not every goal.

“It was my first career hat-trick. It was very special. The ball is in my lounge so everyone can see it. I hope there will be many more, but the first one is always very important and I will try to keep it very safe.”

If his hat-trick ball helps to represent how far he has come and adds context to the ‘siuuu’ celebration, then another ball is significant to Jackson’s belief that he was born to be a footballer.

“My mum and dad said that when I was young, before I was talking, they bought me a ball. To make me sleep, I had to be with the ball. I was a baby. They did not take a picture because there was no camera, but I would sleep with a ball. If I woke up and I couldn’t see the ball, then I’d cry. Everybody told me that.

“Football was something I had to do. It’s just like something God gives you and says ‘you’re going to do this’.”

‘I needed to choose my own path’

That determination and belief convinced Jackson to quit school at the age of 16, despite the fact he had never played in one of Senegal’s academies and was yet to attract the interest of any professional clubs.

“In Senegal, some kids go to an academy, but my family, from my dad’s side, it’s not like they didn’t want me to play but it’s like ‘are you going to make it in football?’ because it’s so hard,” said Jackson.

“You have to choose between going to school or trying to play football. I quit school and everybody was annoyed at me. If I didn’t make it in football, I don’t know what I would do. They wanted me to go to school and finish everything, but I needed to choose my own path.

“I had to fight and be strong. I was not going to parties, I was not smoking, I was not drinking. I still haven’t done that. I had a lot of friends who did that, but I knew I was on my own and if it didn’t work, it was going to be a hard life. I’m not the only one who had a hard life in Africa, so I wasn’t afraid of that.”

Despite being angry at his decision to quit school, Jackson’s mother worked day and night to support her son, who believes, no matter how much he earns at Chelsea, that he will never be able to repay his debt to her.

“You know the mothers, they just do what it takes for you,” said Jackson. “They just love you and they always support you. I was not going to school, but she was always supporting me and helping me.

“She worked on a farm. A lot of people farmed where I’m from. She would have to work from morning to night to support me. She would farm and then sell. She’d sell everything, groundnuts, watermelon. I was playing football, not selling with her or earning any money.

“I don’t want her to do anything now. She’s still in Senegal, she wants to work, but I don’t want her to. She doesn’t want to sit down in one place, so we’ll have to see.

“You cannot repay your mum and your dad, never. Especially your mum because she had you in the stomach for nine months. Everything you do for her, that will never be enough. I’m always trying to do what I can to make her happy.”

Jackson’s big break came when he was spotted by former Fulham striker Diomansy Kamara and, aged 17, joined Casa Sports, who play in Senegal’s top professional division, for the 2018/19 season. Following a trial at Benfica, he moved to Villarreal in Spain before being signed for £32 million by Chelsea this summer.

“I was playing in the street, but some agents came to watch games,” explained Jackson. “Diomansy made a tournament for the best players in Ziguinchor and he just saw me there. I went from there to Casa in the First Division. Maybe seven months there and then to Spain.

“I never went to a school of football. I just played in the streets and I was quick and I could dribble. But when I went to Spain, Unai Emery was there and he developed me.”

Other than the English weather, the biggest shock to the system for Jackson since moving to Chelsea has been the scrutiny placed on him and his team-mates.

During the defeat by Brentford, Jackson was distracted by a supporter who shouted for him to ‘wake up’ as he talked to head coach Mauricio Pochettino and after the game his goalscoring instincts were questioned by two former strikers turned pundits, Alan Shearer and Peter Crouch.

“To the fan, I have to say sorry,” said Jackson. “I never had this before. At Villarreal, you play without so much pressure because it’s a different team, but I know it comes from a good place.

“Normally, I don’t talk to fans or get distracted by what they say. I don’t know what came over me. It must have been frustration. It’s not a small thing, everybody at the game expecting you to do what they want you to. It’s because they love you, not because they hate you. They want you to make them happy. Now I know that. I was in Villarreal, but it was a different environment. You don’t have these kinds of things there. In Chelsea, it’s different.”

Asked about the criticism he received from Shearer and Crouch, Jackson added: “Cristiano would score 30 or 35 goals a season and people would criticise him. You’d never hear him talk about it, he’d just respond with a celebration. So it doesn’t affect me. I’m learning from him, I’d never answer back to criticism. I know what I can do, I believe in myself.”

As many yellow cards as goals

Heading into Saturday’s trip to Newcastle United, Jackson has seven goals for Chelsea, the last of which came against Manchester City before the international break. He also has seven bookings to his name and has already served a one-match suspension after being shown five yellow cards in his first six League appearances.

Pochettino said he would fine Jackson for his five bookings “not in the way you think, it’s not money” and the player believes he served a punishment.

“One day, I was running and I didn’t know why,” said Jackson. “Maybe that was it. I was dead that day, I think that was my punishment. They just called me out to run. I said ‘why, what happened’, but I just had to run. It was laps, really hard, the intensity, then I was lying down when I finished. I think it was that.

“The coach spoke to me and told me to be careful. When you show a card, you get a yellow card. That was the main thing. I’m planning to change that.”

So will Jackson finish the season with more goals or yellow cards? “I don’t mind getting 40 yellow cards if I get 30 goals! I have a [goals] target in my mind. I’ll tell you at the end of the season if I get there. I’m confident I will.”