Nicolas Jackson: Chelsea striker was nicknamed Neymar in Senegal as a child

Nicolas Jackson’s return from injury has been well timed for Chelsea, as the Blues look to land the Europa Conference League trophy and book a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2022-23.

The Senegalese has bagged nine goals in 26 games this season, turning himself into Enzo Maresca’s first-choice striker following an up and down beginning to his Stamford Bridge career.

Not that early starts have always been a problem.

“Sometimes we trained very early in the morning, especially when the sun was very hot,” Pere Badara Sarr, the Casa Sports coach who discovered Jackson in Senegal, told BBC Sport Africa.

“He would say that once the rooster crowed, he’d be up and on his way to training.”

Born in The Gambia, Jackson moved to Senegal aged 12, relocating to Ziguinchor, a village some 273 miles (440km) and a nine-hour car journey from the capital Dakar.

While honing his skills playing with friends behind his house – sometimes barefoot – for more than two hours a day after school, Jackson would keep an ear out for visiting scouts or indications of organised trials.

“It was easy to pick him for a number of reasons, but mainly because of his style of play,” Sarr added, having spotted Jackson at a national competition involving 8,000 young hopefuls.

“He had this unique pull on his team-mates that really made him stand out. They called him Neymar.”