Nicolas Jackson Facing Departure as Chelsea Revamps Attack

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says “anything can happen” to cast doubt over striker Nicolas Jackson’s future in west London after the sale of Joao Felix.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Chelsea have parted ways with Felix this month and may be open to sell one more forward in the transfer window. The Portuguese joined Al Nassr after an unsuccessful loan at AC Milan, and with the arrivals of Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, players like Broja, Nkunku and Jackson have left or may be leaving in the transfer window as the team tries to reduce the size of their squad.

WHAT MARESCA SAID

“We are going to decide soon,” Maresca, who previously seemed confident that Jackson would stay, said ahead of Chelsea’s start to the Premier League against last season’s FA Cup winners Crystal Palace.

“At the beginning when we were thinking [about extending his stay] it was clearly because we were happy for Nico to be with us, for sure. Something has changed in terms of opinion, it means now we will leave it for the summer and not in January. But I always believe that if something can happen in the summer, why not now? I learned in the past that when you want something, you can wait six months but you can also do it now. It depends on if you want it.

“Until now we were thinking to extend until 2026 if we arrive in January and he is not signing a new deal, it means something has changed for him or for us. I don’t know what exactly what’s happened.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Maresca refused to confirm if the change of heart is because of Chelsea’s interest in signing another striker in the winter transfer window, although he added Jackson could leave sooner. “Anything can happen,” he said.

Maresca does not want that speculation undermining the group though as Chelsea start their Premier League campaign next week, but it is clear that, after transfer markets of considerable arrivals of players, the team will be looking at reducing their squad size, offload the players that didn’t adapt or didn’t match the expectations, ahead of a season where the team will be playing Champions League after finishing 4th last year, and will make a push for the PL title.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR CHELSEA?

“Till Nico is here with us, he is part of a group,” Maresca said. “My feeling this summer is that many, many players, who did many interviews, talking [about the] transfer window openly and at the end they are still in the same clubs.

“So we need to be careful. I don’t like when players start to talk openly about transfers in general and then at the end they are in the same place. We need to be careful for Nico’s team-mates here, they need to look at Nico like a team-mate and for Nico to look at himself like a team-mate.”

The Blues start the season having won the Conference League and Club World Cup but Maresca will want the team’s full focus for the beginning of the season.