What Next for Nicolas Jackson and Chelsea? | OneFootball

Nicolas Jackson is set to have an interesting summer when he returns to Chelsea from his loan spell at Bayern Munich. The German giants have an option in his contract to retain him, but have shown little interest in making his move permanent so far.

The question is what happens after his return?

Nicolas Jackson: The Beginning

Nicolas Jackson joined Chelsea from Villarreal in the summer of 2023 on an eight-year contract following a breakout 2022/23 campaign in La Liga in which he struck 12 goals. The Blues paid his $40M (£30m) release clause. He was Chelsea’s second summer of 2023 signing after the $70M (£52m) arrival of Christopher Nkunku. 

Chelsea’s co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said: “We are excited to welcome Nicolas to Chelsea. He is a young player with big potential, as he showcased for Villarreal last season. We believe he is ready for this next step in his career and look forward to him working with our new head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, and his Chelsea teammates.”

Chelsea also welcomed a new manager Mauricio Pochettino in the same summer window after an uninspiring 2022/2023 campaign. They finished in 12th place and scored a mere 38 goals in the Premier League, a tepid goal per game average.

While Pochettino was brought in to stabilise a sinking ship, Jackson and Nkunku were brought in to provide the firing power. The summer pre-season went well. Jackson and Nkunku formed a good partnership that got Chelsea fans and head coach excited ahead of the new season. 

“We are working hard to try to create this dynamic that will become natural and to share time together,” Pochettino said about Nkunku and Jackson’s relationship. “I think the two help to know each other. It is good that they feel well, that they feel already part of the team and the group and they share a lot of time together.”

Sadly, Nkunku was injured in the last pre-season game against Dortmund, leaving Jackson to carry the burden of scoring the goals alone.

Jackson’s First Season (23/24)

Nkunku’s serious knee injury ruled him out of action for the rest of 2023. In response, Chelsea brought in another attacking player right at the end of the transfer window to support Jackson: Cole Palmer.

Together the news signings formed a devastating attacking duo. Palmer’s first season was particularly amazing, providing 22 goals and 11 assists. Jackson had a solid 14 goals and 5 assists but their combined tally of 36 goals almost equalled Chelsea’s total goal count for the previous season (38 goals).

Jackson’s Second Season (24/25)

On 22nd May, 2024, Chelsea announced that head coach Mauricio Pochettino had left the club by mutual consent. Jackson and his teammates braced up for a new head coach. This turned out to be Cole Palmer’s former youth coach at Manchester City, Enzo Maresca, who joined from newly promoted Leicester City. 

It was another new start for Jackson. Maresca relied on him and Palmer to provide the goals and assists. Jackson finished the season with 10 goals and 5 assists, while Palmer managed 15 goals and 8 assists. Not bad numbers but definitely worse than their season under Pochettino. 

But Jackson’s season was defined by a more damning statistic: 16 big chances missed. This infuriated and frustrated some Chelsea fans, even though he had the support of Enzo Maresca who stated in his defense: “It’s not just Jackson, he’s missing some chances – but probably in terms of the wingers we could score more goals for the amount of times that we arrive and we put our wingers in one v ones inside the box like Pedro [Neto], like [Jadon] Sancho. Hopefully they can start to score more goals.”

The Fall Out

By the end of the season, Jackson’s performance was inconsistent.

He drew Maresca’s anger with a careless red card against Newcastle United on May 11, but redeemed himself in the Conference League final, scoring against Real Betis.

All the same, heading into the Club World Cup in June 2025, Chelsea set out to improve their attack. Prior to the tournament they signed former Manchester City academy striker, Liam Delap, from Ipswich Town. Then, during group stage play, they announced the acquisition of Brazilian striker João Pedro from Brighton.

Jackson was handed a starting shirt in Chelsea’s first game at the tournament against LAFC and provided an assist to Pedro Neto.

Coming off the bench against Flamengo, however, he drew a red card after only four minutes. That was his second red in three matches for Chelsea. 

Nobody can say for sure if anything happened between Jackson and Maresca after that Flamengo game, but it would be his last start for the Blues. He appeared to have slipped behind João Pedro and Liam Delap in the pecking order.

The Bayern Move

Throughout the 2025 transfer window, Chelsea were rumored to be interested in accepting bids for Jackson, who was uncomfortable being the third choice striker. Unfortunately, the Blues’ asking price of over $105M (£80m) discouraged potential suitors. But with time running out, Bayern Munich came in with a sizable loan offer which was accepted by the Blues. 

When Liam Delap got injured on August 30th against Fulham, Jackson had yet to complete his move to Bayern. The club decided to recall him. But Jackson apparently made it clear that he would not play under Enzo Maresca. Tensions were high; things were said that did not go down well with people at Chelsea. His bargaining team doubled down to force the move to Bayern Munich, with one of his representatives, Diomansy Kamara, using the phrase, “The plane doesn’t fly backwards” on Instagram. It was obvious that his client would not return to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea later yielded and accepted a $19M (£14.3m) loan fee for the striker.

Nicolas Jackson: The Present

Jackson’s move to Bayern Munich has not gone according to plan. He has made 15 appearances (five starts) in the Bundesliga, averaging a low 32 minutes per game. He’s scored 3 goals but has yet to register an assist. He was far more effective playing with Senegal in Afcon, where he made five starts, logged 386 minutes and scored twice, with an assist.

According to transfer specialist and journalist, Fabrizio Romano, Jackson is set to return to Chelsea in the summer as Bayern Munich have declined to use the “option to buy” clause in his contract.

Nicolas Jackson: The Future

The future of the 24-year-old striker is very uncertain at the moment. While it’s true that Enzo Maresca is no longer manager, Chelsea’s Sporting Directors Winstanley and Stewart are still in place. Let’s remember, these two call the shots, and often there’s very little a head coach can do to change their mind if they decide they don’t want a player. For all we know, they still feel disrespected by Jackson’s attitude and behaviour when he was told to return to Chelsea and abandon the move to Bayern Munich.

While Football London’s journalist Bobby Vincent reported recently that Jackson would be open to staying at Chelsea, the ultimate decision may be out of his hands. This will be an evolving story, and Jackson may well need another outstanding performance in the summer’s World Cup to convince his old club that he belongs there.