Aston Villa are reportedly keen to sign Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson, but agreeing terms with our Premier League rivals could prove to be tricky.
After seeing both Jacob Ramsey and Leon Bailey leave the club this past week, the former on a permanent basis to Newcastle United while the latter joined Roma in an initial loan deal, Unai Emery has been left short of options in the attacking third for this season.
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Considering loanees Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio returned to their respective parent clubs at the start of the summer too, the arrival of Evann Guessand has bolstered our attacking unit, while Emiliano Buendia could get another chance after his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen last season.
However, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, Villa have identified Jackson as a top target with Emery eager to work with the Senegalese international again after their time together at Villarreal, but while he noted that talks are ongoing over the structure of the deal, the Express and Star’s Matt Maher reports the deal could come down to whether or not the two clubs can agree on the loan fee involved.
He adds that Villa are unable to get close to what Chelsea are currently requesting, and so it seems as though unless they lower that demand, we may well be forced to look elsewhere.
Conversely, as the transfer window deadline approaches, they could drop their request to ensure that Jackson is moved on and so perhaps Villa have to play a waiting game to an extent, but with competition touted for the forward’s signing, it remains to be seen whether or not we risk being beaten to his signature if we can’t agree on terms.
In turn, it sounds like we’re at a crucial point in negotiations, and given it’s reported that Jackson is Emery’s priority target, it’s hoped that we can get a deal over the line to add much-needed firepower and a different dynamic to our attack to complement the likes of Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers, Donyell Malen, Buendia and Guessand.
Villa will of course be competing across four competitions again this season, and so while we’ve worked tirelessly all summer to trim the squad down in order to comply with the relevant financial regulations, we’re hopefully now in a position to add a couple of reinforcements at least to strengthen the squad, and Jackson will no doubt be an important addition if a deal can be agreed with Chelsea.
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