It would be much more fun if Chelsea’s sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart simply had a ‘Wheel of Fortune’ in their shared office at Cobham that they used to determine how much money it would take to consider selling Nicolas Jackson. Instead, coming up with a valuation involves a variety of factors.
How old is he? Jackson just turned 24, so still young and still learning, with room to grow whether that is under Enzo Maresca or Eddie Howe.
How long is his contract? Until 2033, tied with Cole Palmer as the longest at Chelsea and second only to Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in Europe. That’s a lot of ‘value-adding time’ to buy out.
How has he been performing? Not bad, 24 goals in 65 games in the Premier League without any penalties, a respectable return even if he is still rough around the edges, and he has 20 caps for the Senegal national team.
How desperate are the club interested in him? Well, Newcastle United look like they are missing out on RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko to Manchester United in yet another unsuccessful chase. Worth noting they represent a top-four rival, too, so slap that tax on top if they come calling.
What strikers have been sold this summer and for how much? Eintracht Frankfurt extracted £79m out of Liverpool for Hugo Ekitike. Leipzig have accepted £74.1m for Sesko. Newcastle themselves reckon Alexander Isak is worth £150m after turning down Liverpool’s £110m bid for him.
Chelsea are adamant that Nicolas Jackson is worth £80million – this is why
Jackson’s goal record stacks up well against the other high-profile strikers being bought this summer
It is not unusual for clubs to look at the going rate when assessing their own assets and Chelsea insiders maintain they believe Jackson deserves to sit somewhere in the middle of that sliding scale – worth more than Ekitike and Sesko but less than Isak.
And when you look at the stats, that holds up – compared to 24 in 65 for Jackson in the league in the last two seasons, in the slightly weaker Bundesliga Sesko has 27 in 64 and Ekitike 19 in 47. Isak is valued at nearly twice as much after scoring 44 in 64 on Tyneside, so fair enough.
Whether they would be willing to budge in negotiations with Newcastle, or accept a smaller fee if a club abroad such as AC Milan or Juventus came in, remains to be seen.
As one source messaged Mail Sport when we asked him on Jackson yesterday: ‘The eye test says he’s not an £80m player. However, market value, data and circumstances means that fee can be commanded.’
It could depend on Jackson’s stance, too. He may want to be a team’s main man rather than scrapping for minutes here and there, even if Chelsea being back in the Champions League means there will be room for rotation in 2024-25.
Despite intermediaries appearing to offer him around in private, Jackson has not thrown his toys out of the pram in public. He happily reported back for the start of pre-season training on Monday to prepare for the new Premier League campaign with his new rivals for the No 9 spot, Liam Delap and Joao Pedro.
Maresca held a press conference on Thursday morning to tee up their weekend friendlies with Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan. Mail Sport asked him directly whether he would like Jackson to stay this summer, and Maresca did not exactly slam the door shut on a sale.
‘When the transfer window is open, unfortunately or fortunately, anything can happen,’ he told us. ‘This also involves Nico’s situation. At the moment we also had two strikers arrive, both of them in the USA, Joao and Liam. So we will see what happens.’
Jackson has two new rivals for the starting striker spot this season in Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, who have joined for a combined £90m
Jackson does have a disciplinary problem – and was sent off both in the last game of Chelsea’s season and at the Club World Cup against Flamengo, before getting stuck into the PSG
There is potential to this player who, less than two years ago, was being compared to Didier Drogba by Chelsea supporters
Working against Jackson is how he can be prone to the odd daft decision. He loves a needless card, both yellow and red, and is no stranger to an assistant’s offside flag. The irony of him joining Newcastle is that he would be suspended for the opening Premier League game for a red card he got against… Newcastle!
Those cards are often for needless infractions – only three of the 17 he has picked up across two seasons in the Premier League were for an actual foul. The rest? Dissent, arguing and timewasting.
But he is a 24-year-old striker who holds defences to account with his sheer willingness to sprint in behind, and is likewise good at holding up the ball when receiving passes from the back line to bring others into play.
There is potential to this player who, less than two years ago, was being compared to Didier Drogba by Chelsea supporters.
The noise surrounding him is unlikely to lessen over the next month, especially with the dominoes now falling elsewhere. Jackson has spent this summer sitting on a number of clubs’ striker shortlists, from Newcastle to Aston Villa to Juventus to AC Milan and more.
He may not have been their top targets but he is available – for the right price.
