Chelsea Advance Deal For New €40m Signing As Aston Villa On Verge Of Nicolas Jackson Transfer | OneFootball

Nicolas Jackson is among several strikers leaving Chelsea this summer.

Chelsea are continuing to make sales in attack as Nicolas Jackson looks set to join Liam Delap in departing this summer.

After agreeing a deal worth up to £50 million, including add-ons, with Nottingham Forest for Delap, who has undergone a medical, Chelsea are in the process of selling Jackson to Aston Villa.

Jackson looks set to reunite with Unai Emery after their time together in Spain at Villarreal.

He has been a long-term target for Aston Villa, and a deal worth £65 million has been struck with Chelsea for the 25-year-old.

As reported by The Athletic, Chelsea will receive £47.5m upfront, with an additional £17.5m in add-ons.

Despite being part of Chelsea's pre-season under Xabi Alonso, it has been decided that Jackson is among the strikers to leave after Joao Pedro, Danny Welbeck and Emmanuel Emegha were selected as the three that Chelsea want to go into the 2026-27 season with.

Delap will also leave, while Marc Guiu is attracting interest from Napoli, and the Spaniard is set to finalise a departure before the September 1 deadline.

Jackson returned after his Bayern Munich loan spell last season, which saw Chelsea make €16.5m in a loan fee from the Bavarians, adding to the revenue they will earn this summer.

It's a substantial profit on Jackson after his £32m arrival from Villarreal three years ago, and he has made 81 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea, scoring 30 goals and contributing 12 assists.

Jackson will bolster Villa's attack, which Alejandro Garnacho has also added to after his initial loan move from Chelsea. Jackson's arrival also paves the way for Ollie Watkins to join Al Hilal.

Meanwhile, the defence has been another area of change for Chelsea this summer.

Trevoh Chalobah departed for Como, while Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile finalised loan deals to Crystal Palace and Napoli, respectively.

It came after Maxence Lacroix's £52m arrival from Crystal Palace, and Alonso revealing he would only like four or five centre-backs in his squad for the 2026-27 campaign.

Now, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are closing in on another centre-back - this time for Atalanta's Honest Ahanor.

A deal worth more than €40m is being discussed between the two clubs for the 18-year-old, who is set to join another Premier League club for the season to continue his development, before joining the Blues' squad next summer.

Which Premier League club it may be remains unclear. Coventry City showed interest in Josh Acheampong earlier this summer, so they could be an option, given they were hunting for a centre-back.