Football / Soccer / Calcio / Futebol / Fußball

From The Telegraph's Matt Law:

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.”