Mauricio Pochettino has urged for patience with the “young” Nicolas Jackson while drawing comparisons between the Chelsea forward and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr.
The Chelsea manager disclosed that he had a conversation with the underperforming forward and encouraged him to maintain composure on the field and in front of the goal.
Pochettino also cited the example of Vinicius Jr at Real Madrid, highlighting that it took him at least two seasons to adapt and excel with Los Blancos. This comparison is intended to motivate the budding striker
Speaking to reporters on Jackson’s poor run of form, Pochettino said, “I had a meeting today (Friday) with Nicolas and Enzo (Fernandez). I said, ‘Come on, a striker with four yellow cards for protesting?’ You need to get yellow cards but in different actions, not for that. Not so easy, so cheap. It’s going to put him in a very difficult situation with the team.
“He understood. But Jackson is 22; he’s young. He needs to learn, needs to improve, and needs to settle. He’s going to be a fantastic player. But he needs time. I like to make similarities with players at other clubs. Jackson is a fantastic player but he needs to be calm and relaxed in front of goal. I said, Remember Vinicius; he took three seasons, or two and a half seasons, to perform at Real.”
He added, “We’re talking about young players. You can blame us; blame me. We can talk about tactics. But they need time. There’s no doubt we have amazing talent on the team, but now they need time to settle. But he needs to be clever not to protest to the referees in this way. Maybe it’s his normal behaviour on the pitch; it’s something maybe he can improve on. Maybe this season they change the rules; he came from Spain, where it’s different the relationship with the referees.”
Following his £32 million transfer from Villarreal to Chelsea this summer, Jackson has found the back of the net only once in five Premier League matches. His lone goal this season was against recently promoted Luton Town last month.
It is anticipated that the 22-year-old will be in the starting lineup for Chelsea on Sunday when they face Aston Villa in the Premier League.