Nicolas Jackson scored Chelsea’s quickest goal in seven years against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend and saw it as the perfect opportunity to reply ex-Nigeria international, Mikel Obi who has ben critical of his form in front of goal.
Obi had criticised Jackson for fluffing his lines and failing to find the back of the net in Chelsea’s season opener against Manchester City. Specifically, he expressed displeasure with a particular missed opportunity where Jackson dribbled several defenders but ended up with a tame shot.
Taking to social media after Chelsea walloped Wolves 6-2, Jackson tagged Mike Obi and wrote: “‘@Mikel_john_obi shut your mouth. ‘Don’t talk s***, we are killing ourselves for Africa.’
Obi responded to the Senegal forward via the The Obi One podcast on Monday, saying: ‘I really like the guy as a football player. I like him. There’s something there as a football player.
‘I haven’t said that he’s a bad player at all. I’ve just said that his finishing qualities, it’s not there yet.
‘He’s a young boy and all I’ve said is that he needs a more experienced striker to come into the football club to help him, to help him improve, to help him get better.
‘We all can see the shift he puts in week in, week out. So for me, I would like to see my African brother like he said do well in the Premier League, come to Chelsea, a big club, a massive club where we’ve had one of the greatest strikers in Didier Drogba from Africa, Ivory Coast did really well.
‘I’d like to see him do well as well in the club. If he plays well I will praise him. If there is something to be said about him, where he needs to improve, I will definitely say it.
‘If he scores every week and tells me to shut up, I’ll take that. You know what I mean?’.
Obi had criticised Jackson as an analyst on beIN Sports.
‘We’ve played OK, we haven’t played perfect, but we’ve played OK.
‘We created chances, we haven’t taken them. And just an example of how Jackson finishes.
‘You can see there, even though he was offside, he dribble (past) one or two or three players and the way he shot the ball!’
‘You need a striker who knows how to hit a ball back in the back of the net and that’s what we don’t have.
‘I know I talk so much about him and sometimes I sound like I disrespect him. I don’t disrespect him.
‘I think at Chelsea Football Club we need a top striker who can get us a goal.
‘A bit like (Haaland), 91 goals (for City) that’s absolutely unbelievable.’ He said
Jackson has scored 18 goals in 46 games since joining Chelsea in 2023.