For a team that can boast a 75-time Premier League goalscorer in Ollie Watkins and a £100m-rated Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa have looked rather limp in attack during the infancy of this new season.
Unai Emery's men are yet to get off the board in terms of goals, and unfortunately, also wins, as Crystal Palace now await the out-of-sorts Villans before the early international break comes into view.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery before the match
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery before the match
It could well be that the Spaniard has to dip his toes into the hectic transfer market to add some last-minute firepower to his unusually weary attack, with Villa still noted as being in the race for this £60m forward.
Aston Villa remain in race for £60m talent
Emery will certainly be pushed into making some last-ditch additions if more movement occurs out of the door at Villa Park.
Indeed, it has been rumbling away in the background that Tottenham Hotspur are preparing to splash the cash to land the aforementioned Rogers, with Villa perhaps needing this cash boost to make some standout purchases of their own.
PFA Player of the Year 2025 winners - Rogers & Salah (timeless)
Having recently received the prize of being the PFA Young Player of the Year, Rogers exiting the building would be an almighty blow, but Villa do have a high-profile attacking move up their sleeve, as well.
Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has offered up a welcome development for fans of the West Midlands side, with the German journalist revealing that no agreement has yet been struck between Bayern Munich and Chelsea for the services of long-term Villa target Nicolas Jackson.
Chelsea-Nicolas-Jackson
This means that Premier League sides are still in the mix, including Villa, with it yet to be seen if the striker would prefer move to Bavaria or the Midlands, to link up with his former Villarreal boss in Emery.
The ex-Arsenal manager will be hoping he can work his magic on another top-flight attacking misfit, having briefly breathed life back into Marcus Rashford's bumpy playing days when he pulled on Villa claret and blue last season.
Why Jackson can be Emery's next Rashford
Rashford desperately needed an escape from the shackles of Manchester United last campaign.
The 27-year-old's stay at his boyhood club had turned sour, to say the least, but while his working relationship with Ruben Amorim had broken down at Old Trafford, he managed to strike up a healthy connection to Emery on his Villans arrival.
marcus-rashford-aston-villa-premier-league
In tow, Rashford - who is now on loan at Barcelona - would tally up an impressive four goals and six assists from just 17 outings at Villa Park.
Jackson will be praying he can be as blistering from the get-go if he makes the move to Villa, with his £60m price tag making a loan switch to the West Midlands look more likely - as opposed to a permanent move - owing to Emery and Co's worrying PSR predicament.
The often scapegoated 24-year-old has flattered to deceive at points at Stamford Bridge, with a costly 43 big chances spurned across two Premier League seasons, but he has also shown a red-hot streak in spurts that could see him instantly explode into life away from Enzo Maresca's men, in a similar fashion to Rashford's reinvigorated displays under Emery's wing.
After only bagging a mere one goal from his first seven Chelsea matches during his debut season, Jackson would then go on to light up West London with a clinical six strikes from his next eight matches.
His former Yellow Submarine head coach now needs to get this "special" - as he was once labelled by journalist Rahman Osman - side out of the Senegalese attacker more regularly.
|Jackson's PL numbers for Chelsea|
|Stat|Jackson|
|Games played|65|
|Goals scored|24|
|Assists|10|
|Big chances missed|43|
Stats by Sofascore
The hit-and-miss Blues number 15 could well see his 24-goal tally in the Premier League rise under the Spaniard's expertise, having already seen the heights Rashford managed to hit during his short stint.
After all, the Manchester-born star has been prone to being streaky himself, even during his United peak, with Erik ten Hag even declaring that Rashford was "unstoppable when he is in the mood", as seen in him bagging a hefty 17 league goals under the Dutchman during the 2022/23 season, only to then follow that up with a slender seven strikes the next campaign.
Nicolas Jackson 2024-25 stats (timeless)
Emery will be keeping his fingers crossed that Jackson moves on from his inconsistent form when lining up for Villa, with another stellar loan move perhaps in the making if he goes on to be a dangerous option up top that pushes the top-flight strugglers out of their early-season slump.