One advantage of Villarreal over many La Liga teams is that they tend to have more aggressive attackers, which is a big reason why the Yellow Submarine continues to occupy fifth place in La Liga this season. Although Danjuma, who was a big hit last season, has been on loan at Tottenham, Senegalese youngster Nicolas Jacquesson, who has been reused this season, has been in hot form of late, scoring four goals in his last three games, and the long-maligned mediocre finishing ability has shown signs of improvement, and his attacking line with the likes of Chucuezze, Jeremi Pino and Morales remains one of the most troublesome attacking combinations in La Liga.
Mane and Koulibaly are considered representatives of Senegalese stars, but both are 31 years old and Jacquesson is considered one of the most promising players in Senegal's new generation.
In Senegalese football, youth talent is often developed in a special way: their academy establishes cooperation with French clubs and feeds talent for these clubs, Diambars and Marseille, Generation Foot and Metz, as well as AS Pikine and Lyon, are good examples of cooperation. Mane, for example, started at Diambars in Senegal and officially landed in Metz at the age of 21.
However, Jacqueson's career path is different from most players in Senegal, he was discovered by Spanish club Villarreal in 2021, but this did not affect Jacçon's recognition within Senegal; In Senegal, he even has a resounding nickname - "Senegalese Neymar".
Jacqueson was born on 20 June 2001 in the port city of Banjul in The Gambia, but he also holds Senegalese nationality and chose to play for the Senegalese national team after becoming a professional footballer. The nickname "Senegalese Neymar" shows his style of football: fast, skillful and capable one-on-one.
In the 2018-19 season, Jacqueson started his career with Senegalese domestic club Casa Sport. On 15 November 2019, Jacson was called up to Senegal's U20 national team for the first time; One day later, he played well in Casa Sports' match against AS Pikine and was named Player of the Match. It was an absolutely fantastic season for Jaxon, who became part of Villarreal at the end of summer 2019. He initially played for the Submarines' U19 team, but he is already believed to be in the team's first-team squad sooner or later.
In the 2020–21 season, Jacqueson was loaned to club Milandes in the province of Burgos in Spain. Due to injuries, Jacqueson has only played 17 games (seven of them starts), but professionals still have confidence in him. Jacqueson scored one goal and provided one assist in 724 minutes of playing time, averaging 1.2 successful dribbles per game and a 63% success rate. It was enough for La Liga teams to notice his potential.
Jaxon trained with Villarreal's first team for most of the 2021-22 season, although he played most of his games with Team B. Jacquesson helped the Submarines B team to promotion to La B, and he also secured 10 first-team appearances for Villarreal.
In the summer of 2022, Villarreal's other Senegalese attacker, Diar, left the team on loan, which also provided Jacquesson with a chance to establish himself in the Submarine first team. With Emery trusting Jacqueson so much in his abilities, the Submarine who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League the previous season did not make a big move in the transfer market, and he was usually assigned to play a winger role, but in some games Jaxon also appeared in the middle of the attacking line.
At 1.86 meters tall, Jaxon has a slender body, he is very good at using his height to win high-altitude matches, and he is also good at stealing points in the box. Jackson is energetic in the game, and his natural stamina, combined with his speed and instantaneous acceleration, make him very dangerous when counter-attacking. Despite his height, Jacqueson has excellent balance and is quite strong in physical confrontations.
In addition, Jacquesson is also a player with a very good sense of teamwork. He is good at working with his teammates and always runs to the right position to receive a pass from his teammate. While he has a fairly consistent passing and receiving level, Jackson is also very good at ball control, and he can use changes of direction and feints to pass opponents on the move.
Jaczon is very strong and unpredictable in one-on-one, even in tight spaces with great pressure. However, when passing his opponents, Jacquesson sometimes gets too carried away and makes wrong or hasty decisions on the ball, and he needs to improve his decision-making skills in this regard. Jacquesson's shooting ability has also improved this season, although there is still some room for improvement in his shooting, especially as he needs to develop his ability to shoot with his left foot.
Jackson came close to joining the Premier League this winter, first coming close to being signed by Southampton, but then Bournemouth jumped on the fray and came out on top with a €23 million offer, with even Romano playing the iconic "Here We Go". However, when Jacquesson arrived in England by plane, Bournemouth terminated the deal on the grounds that he had not recovered from his injury.
However, Jacqueson has been in better form since returning from injury, and Emery's successor Cetien has said that the team will try to double Jacquesson's transfer fee in the second half of the season. Of course, Jacqueson may have a better buyer – that is, Emery's Aston Villa – provided Emery can persuade Aston Villa's management to continue bringing in Jacqueson with Atkinson.
Emery is the coach who promoted Jacquesson to the first team and has absolute confidence in his future. Although Jacquesson is not a real mature player at the moment, he has a high ceiling. In the eyes of many, Jacson's true "full form" may be an all-round striker - if Jacqueson can improve his finishing ability and ability to maneuver near the opponent's penalty area, and further expand his threat in air combat, then his worth will be unimaginable. He and Leo and Moani are often seen as the same type of player - in addition to excellent physical fitness, there is also good one-on-one ability, and if some technical details can be perfected, it may become difficult to stop.
(Santiago-Wang)