Chelsea may have Cristiano Ronaldo to thank as Alan Shearer put in his place
Nicolas Jackson has spoken of the big influence that Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo has already had on his career as the Chelsea star looks to emulate his idol at Stamford Bridge. Jackson has begun to find his footing at Chelsea after a testing start to life in the Premier League with the forward scoring seven goals in all competitions.
At 22 years of age, Chelsea will be hoping Jackson continues on an upward trajectory to help Mauricio Pochettino push the club back to where they once were. Jackson himself comes from humble beginnings in Senegal where he often played football without shoes.
And it was watching clips of Ronaldo as a kid that inspired Jackson to become the striker that he is today. “When I was growing up, I loved Cristiano Ronaldo. I had his name on a shirt that I always wore,” Jackson told the Telegraph.
“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.” Ronaldo’s influence on Jackson’s career was plain to see when the Chelsea star bagged his first career hat-trick against nine-man Tottenham.
Jackson wheeled away and copied Ronaldo’s signature ‘Siu’ celebration and admitted he will do it again for every hat-trick he scores for the rest of his career. The Senegal international is also copying Ronaldo’s mental resilience to block out any criticism and outside noise.
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Shearer took aim at the 22-year-old for his display against Brentford earlier in the season, scolding the striker for his ‘complete lack of movement’. But Jackson has opted against retaliating to Shearer’s comments as he believes that’s not what someone like Ronaldo would do.
“Cristiano would score 30 or 35 goals a season and people would criticise him,” he said. “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.”
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