Chelsea have six strikers and want three, and Nicolas Jackson is the expensive one
Unai Emery gave him his debut at Villarreal and Aston Villa want him now. Chelsea’s asking price is the only thing in the way, and Tottenham’s reported interest looks thinner than it did on Tuesday morning.
Aug 5, 2026
Chelsea went into this window with a striker problem and solved it by acquiring more strikers. They now have six senior centre-forwards on the books and, according to The Athletic, intend to start the season with three. Somebody has to go, and the most expensive name on the list is Nicolas Jackson.
The queue, and who is safe in it
Joao Pedro is not going anywhere and is being given a new contract. That is the settled end of it. Emanuel Emegha arrived from Strasbourg on a seven-year deal through the pipeline that connects the two clubs. Danny Welbeck came in from Brighton on 1 August, 35 years old and on a two-year deal, which tells you Xabi Alonso wanted an adult in the room more than he wanted another prospect.
That leaves the three who were already there. Liam Delap cost £30 million from Ipswich last summer and is reported to be the likeliest departure, with Chelsea wanting more than they paid. Marc Guiu, back from a loan at Sunderland, is priced at £25 million. And Jackson, who returned from a season on loan at Bayern Munich on 30 June, is valued at £65 million, which is double what Chelsea paid Villarreal for him in 2023.
Alonso is not pushing him out the door
Asked about Jackson on Tuesday, Alonso gave the kind of answer that gets read both ways. “Nico is a great player. He’s a threat to play against any defence, so we want to have players that can compete, and Nico for sure is one of them,” he said, before adding that the club needs to “go day by day checking options” and that he is happy to have him around.
Read one way, that is a manager keeping a saleable asset’s value up. Read another, it is a manager who quite likes a 25-year-old striker with a contract running to 2033 and no interest in being talked into selling him cheap. Both readings are consistent with Chelsea holding out for a number nobody has yet offered.
The price nobody agrees on
£65 million is the figure attached to Jackson in most reporting. Other accounts suggest Chelsea’s real floor sits a little below their public price, which still leaves interested clubs with a meaningful gap to close. Interested clubs think the higher number is steep. Chelsea have a squad to fund and, with the window open until 1 September, no particular reason to blink first.
Tottenham were reported on Tuesday to have joined the race. Within hours other reporting was pouring cold water on it, with no negotiations said to be underway. Treat that one as noise until somebody puts a bid in.
Villa are the serious ones, and they have history here
Aston Villa’s interest is the older and more credible strand. Unai Emery gave Jackson his first-team debut at Villarreal in 2021 and worked with him for a season before the move to Stamford Bridge, and has talked publicly about the running and pressing he tried to build into him. Managers who have already coached a player tend to be the ones who follow through.
The two clubs have also been trading heavily. Chelsea broke the British transfer record this summer to take Morgan Rogers off Villa for £117 million, then sent Alejandro Garnacho the other way on loan with an obligation to buy. A Jackson deal would be the third piece of business between them in one window, and it would mean Villa spending a large chunk of the Rogers money on a striker Chelsea decided they did not need, which is either good recycling or a warning, depending on which end of the pitch you sit.
What makes it awkward for Chelsea is that £65 million assumes a player at the top of his market. Jackson spent last season on loan and came back to find two more forwards ahead of him. Clubs read that. The longer this goes, the more the asking price starts to look like a position rather than a valuation.