Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist
Nicolas Jackson has been Chelsea’s first-choice striker for the past two seasons but the recruitment of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap have left his future in doubt. If a satisfactory offer arrives this summer, the Blues will reportedly consider selling the Senegal international.
The 24-year-old would tick a lot of boxes for potential suitors, though he wouldn’t come cheap. Jackson’s pace and work-rate make him a real threat on the counter-attack and he repeatedly stretches defences with runs in behind. He averaged 25.5 sprints per 90 minutes last term, the league’s third highest figure.
Discipline and finishing are two areas with obvious scope for improvement, particularly in light of dismissals against Newcastle and Flamengo at the end of last season. He has accumulated 17 yellow cards in the league, only three of which were for fouls against the opposition. The rest were for other infractions such as dissent, arguing and time wasting.
Where there is most room for growth is finishing. He has a solid enough scoring record of 24 goals from 65 Premier League appearances (59 of them starts). But he has underperformed his expected goals total by seven over the past two years, the second biggest negative difference by any player.
A key factor has been his record in what Opta define as ‘big chances’. Jackson has just scored 18 of 61 such opportunities, a relatively low conversion rate compared to the league’s top forwards.
Premier League's biggest xG underperformers over the past two seasons