Nicolas Jackson missed yet another huge opportunity in Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa and fans are now calling for the club to complete a mega-money transfer
Enzo Fernandez, Levi Colwill and Nicolas Jackson in a Chelsea wall versus Aston Villa (Image: Jacques Feeney/Offside via Getty Images)
Mauricio Pochettino has done nothing but defend Nicolas Jackson in the early part of both of their Chelsea tenures. The 22-year-old striker, who was signed for around £30million from Villarreal in the summer, has scored just once in the Premier League since making the switch from Spain.
“Jackson is a fantastic player but he needs to be relaxed in front of goal,” Pochettino said on the striker in Friday’s press conference, before losing to Aston Villa 1-0 on Sunday. “Remember Vinicius [Jr, at Real Madrid] arrived and after three seasons or two seasons and a half and started to perform.
“Always we forget we are talking about young players. You can blame me or blame us and you can talk about tactics but they need time. There’s no doubt we have amazing talent but they need time to settle and for sure they will start to perform in the way we expect.”
Jackson, though, was not the relaxed version of himself that Pochettino was calling upon a couple of days before. In the 24th minute of the defeat to Villa at Stamford Bridge, Jackson found himself in between the two opposition centre-backs of Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa and made a really intelligent run in behind, then received the ball from Mykhailo Mudryk but was unable to guide the ball past Emiliano Martinez in the goal.
It turned out to be the Senegal international’s only shot of the game. The off-the-ball movement was absolutely sensational – and there is no doubting the striker in that regard. However, his coolness and composure in front of goal was not there and he perhaps made it more difficult than it needed to be.
“The best chance we had all match. Send Napoli a blank cheque for Victor Osimhen [who Napoli rejected a £120million bid for from Al Hilal in the summer],” one Chelsea fan on Reddit said when posting the Jackson’s miss
Another user said: “I can’t believe Jackson has had the idea to make that run, Mudryk has seen him and managed to pull off a world-class pass that lands at his feet and Jackson hasn’t been able to finish it. Any other team I’m telling you that results in a goal… Think about how many moving pieces had to come together for this to even be considered a chance, great save to be fair though. At this point I’m just in disbelief because nothing seems to be going right for us.”
“Osimhen is the guy I wanted this summer as well,” another continued. “If we could get him and Nkunku comes back healthy we’ll get the goals we’ve been looking for. Plus Enzo will be able to play his more natural position again.”
Jackson, overall, struggled to get involved too much against Aston Villa and his yellow card – his fifth of the season – means he will miss the Premier League clash with Fulham next Monday. The Senegalese striker, though, is eligible to face Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday and he now has more of a chance of playing considering there is no need to rest him as he is ineligible for the next Premier League game anyway.
Despite Chelsea signing Jackson in the summer transfer window, another centre-forward was also considered, football.london understands, although nobody viewed as the right profile was available for the right price. Dusan Vlahovic was looked at but interest in the Serbian striker never got too serious.
Ivan Toney is also someone the club very much like – and have done for a while now. But because of the Brentford striker’s ban, which is due to expire in January, the situation is complicated.
Although speculation over Toney has heated up in recent weeks with all indications from the player’s camp suggesting he wants to leave the Bees when he returns to competitive football. It is certainly a situation Chelsea could revisit when the time is right.
Soucre: football.london
