The world champions are not the only Premier League club asking whether there is still untapped potential within the 24-year-old striker
Nicolas Jackson is a player of extreme contrasts, blowing hot and cold. Scoring goals Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland would be lauded for, then missing shots to Rasmus Hojlund and Darwin Nunez levels of derision.
He therefore divides opinion, and in this summer of the striker merry-go-round, it is not merely Chelsea but also Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Manchester United who are asking, what exactly is Jackson’s level?
Two years into Premier League life, the Senegal international’s talent and temperament wavers, while the stark contrasts extend to his own thinking.
“Competition? I have no competition,” Jackson told Senegalese outlet D Sports this week.
With Liam Delap and Joao Pedro arriving at Stamford Bridge this summer, practically everyone else would beg to differ, making Jackson’s comments both admirable and delusional.
Soccer Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Final - Chelsea v Paris St Germain - MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. - July 13, 2025 Chelsea's Liam Delap comes on as a substitute to replace Joao Pedro REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
Liam Delap and Joao Pedro have pushed Jackson down the pecking order (Photo: Reuters)
“We’re all here to help the club,” he added. “Everyone has their role to play.
“I’m on a mission. It’s up to the coach to make his choices. I focus solely on my work.”
You can even admire the delusion, the confidence, and perhaps this is necessary for a Premier League striker who regularly finds himself in a difficult corner and eventually bounces back.
At a glance, you can see he started last season in fine form before enduring a four-month goal drought, with his campaign then ending in a whirlwind of goals – notably in the Conference League final – and red cards, one against Newcastle in May and a second at the Club World Cup.
Diving deeper, Jackson averaged fewer minutes per shot than Isak in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign but was far closer to mirroring Liverpool’s No 9 Nunez for minutes per goal.
Jackson also boasted a far worse xG conversion rate than No 9s at other big six teams, and seemingly lived offside, with only Chris Wood (28), Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jamie Vardy (both 27) flagged more times than the Chelsea forward (23) last season.
It shows he is there and getting into the space for chances, but lacks the conversion and ultimately the quality to put them away and therefore be placed in the same bracket as Isak.
Not like anyone is putting him in the Swede’s tier, anyway, but therein lies the problem.
If he is no longer good enough for Chelsea, where he looks to be now third in the pecking order, then where could he go?
At 24 and at a crossroads, it is difficult to know whether Jackson is a level below Champions League-chasing clubs or if he still possesses an untapped potential capable of getting teams there.
It may explain why none of Aston Villa, Manchester United and Newcastle are rushing to sign Jackson, and he appears to be a smaller cog in a wheel driven by Isak’s expected Liverpool move that also features Benjamin Sesko, Ollie Watkins and Yoane Wissa.
Villa may go in for Jackson if Watkins leaves. Manchester United may go in for Jackson – as The i Paper reported last month – if they do not sign Sesko or Watkins.
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Newcastle may go for Jackson if Isak goes to Liverpool, Brentford continue to play hardball on Wissa and they miss out or do not want Sesko.
That makes for a lot of ifs, and it may explain why Jackson is odds-on to remain at Chelsea with the bookmakers, with reports of a £80-100m asking price also putting off potential suitors.
We can expect that asking price to come down, especially if Chelsea’s desperation to sell increases, but in a league where Haaland and Isak stand head and shoulders above the other No 9s and everyone other striker represents a risk, perhaps one club will eventually deem Jackson a gamble worth taking.
A reunion with Unai Emery at Villa?
“He taught me everything,” Jackson said of their time together at Villarreal, and with Watkins now 29 years old, you start to wonder if succession planning at Villa Park has led to their recruitment team asking if their coach can untap this potential.
For closer to £50m, Villa may well believe Emery has the necessary skills to polish the forward further.