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Gary Neville has sprang to Nicolas Jackson's defence, stating that the Premier League debut made by the Chelsea FC striker proved to be successful. In a summer transfer costing almost £30 million, the 22-year-old left Villarreal for Stamford Bridge, where he subsequently scored 13 goals across 39 games for the Blues.
However, Jackson has been under pressure lately following Chelsea's 1-0 FA Cup semifinal loss to Manchester City. The attacker has let several golden opportunities to put Mauricio Pochettino's team ahead at Wembley slip through his fingers.
Even if the striker isn't Chelsea's first choice at number nine again the next season, Neville thinks the player has shown promise in his debut year and will still have a role to play.
He said, "I actually like Nicolas Jackson. That might be an unpopular opinion on here, but I like him," said Neville on the Gary Neville podcast. "I think he has a lot to give. He's a young player. I think they he cost...not stupid money but it's his first full season in the Premier League, he's scored quite a few goals and he keeps going.”
The former Manchester United captain added, "There's a lot to be said about that. He might not be striker number 1 but if he was your striker number two or number three in a squad of 18 to 20 players, you'd say 'I'll take that'. So for me, the performance Chelsea put in against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final was a hell of a performance. Good, really good.”
Gary Neville confident about young Chelsea side ahead of next season
Gary Neville seemed to be full of praise about the young Chelsea squad and believes that they might just need two to three players more to have the perfect squad.
The former England defender added: "You can see something, but they just need two or three players to glue it together. They need really good, experienced signings. They can't afford to go down the route of eight-year contracts. If they can get those right three players in at the end start of the season; the striker, the centre-back to replace Thiago Silva and the goalkeeper, I think, as well."