9 G/A in 12 starts – £32m man has gone to next level since mid-season break | OneFootball

The Nicolas Jackson renaissance is well underway, and we’re starting to see great progress from the striker on the pitch as he racked up a couple more goals this weekend.

ChicagoDmitry on Twitter posted a radar of his stats showing his season compared to last season, when he was still at Villareal. While a freakish late run of goals for the Yellow Submarine boosted his non-penalty goals per game record, everything else is getting better. His hold up play, his defensive efforts, even his aerial ability has levelled up.

The £32m we paid for him is starting to look a bit like a bargain at this point. He’s got 16 goals in all competitions, not at all bad for a forward who is known more for his linkup play that his ruthlessness. Since he returned from the Africa Cup of Nations at the start of February, he’s got 6 goals and 3 assists in 12 starts.

You can see the full radar embedded here:

The conclusions from an important improvement

So what we can conclude from all this is that the numbers are confirming what we’re seeing on TV and in the stadium. The striker was as raw as they come – he hadn’t even played a full La Liga season yet when we bought him.

But the advantage of buying a raw player is that they can improve rapidly, and the numbers back up that improvement. Moving to a tougher league (and playing in a team that has barely functioned at times) should mean a drop in some areas. Instead, Jackson is level or better almost all around.

Those who kept faith are now being rewarded. He’s never going to be a lethal finisher, but he can yet be a striker with so much to offer that the weaknesses in his game are well worth carrying.