Chelsea have their own £30m Sadio Mane - he can win the Ballon d'Or

Former Chelsea defender Kalidoi Koulibaly is backing international teammate Nicolas Jackson to win the Ballon d'Or during his career. The striker is currently on a strong run of form, silencing many of the critics after a tough start to life in England.

Following a tricky few months under Mauricio Pochettino at the beginning of his Chelsea stay, littered with offsides, missed chances, and ill-discipline, Jackson ended last term as one of the most impressive all-round forwards in the Premier League. That has continued into his second full season.

Jackson now has six goals and three assists in the first nine games, a total contribution bettered only by Cole Palmer, Erling Haaland, and Bukayo Saka. What makes this all the more outstanding for a player signed at 22 for £30milion having only shifted to being a striker 12 months prior, is that he has done it without penalties.

It is this that has made him a regular in Senegal's national side more recently. In September, Jackson scored his first goal for his country. Playing alongside Koulibaly, who had a deeply forgettable one-season spell at Stamford Bridge in 2022/23 as one of Todd Boehly's statement buys in the interim sporting director position, Jackson is becoming an important figure for the Lions of Teranga.

"I speak all the time with Nicolas because he's my international teammate," Koulibaly told GiveMeSport recently. "He's a young player who I like. I speak a lot with him.

"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.

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"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."

Instead of receiving the growing praise he now gets - albeit still more from Chelsea specialists with wider media holding a more critical view - Jackson was hammered for much of the last 12 months. Ex-Blues midfielder John Mikel-Obi, in particular, has expressed his dissatisfaction in Jackson leading the line.

In August, this reached a climax when Jackson called Mikel out online in a furious outburst. Koulibaly has big hopes for Enzo Maresca's reliable talisman. "I hope he will continue to score," the 33-year-old Al-Hilal defender said. "We know for all strikers life is goals, and Nicolas is no different.

"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. And 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 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."

Certainly big ambitions from Koulibaly for Jackson. Extending his current purple patch and making it the foundation of his game will certainly be the next step for a player who reached 20 Premier League goals quicker than African icon Didier Drogba.

Koulibaly is confident that he can match those expectations. "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 explained.

"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."

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