On April 30, reporters from The Athletic UK, including Chelsea and Germany, wrote a Nicholas Jackson column.
A little earlier this week, Max Eberl, the sporting director of Bayern Munich Football Club, confirmed that the club in the German Football League will not activate the mandatory buyout clause of up to 65 million euros. This situation is actually not surprising.
In terms of required appearances, Jackson is nowhere near there. He only had 13 starts in the Bundesliga and the Champions League, and his total playing time was just 1,151 minutes. One of the reasons for this situation is that at the beginning of the year, he represented Senegal in the African Cup.
To put this number into perspective, he played for Chelsea last season, playing 37 games and totaling 2,535 minutes. This was achieved while he was out for several months due to a hamstring injury and also suffered two red cards and suspensions.
According to The Athletic, before the first two teams met in the Champions League group stage seven months ago, Jackson and his team were privately confident about the transfer, even if it meant renegotiating the terms of the transfer. So, what is the final result?
Jackson's performance at Bayern was not bad. He played 29 times, contributed ten goals, and assisted four times. On average, he was involved in one goal every two games.
In many ways, Jackson fulfills his role as a backup forward brilliantly. Kane is in hot form (54 goals) and generally uninjured, so the Senegal international has not had many opportunities to get consistent playing time. Given the survival of Luis Diaz, Jackson's opportunities to play on the left are also extremely limited.
Following Jackson's goal in March, head coach Vincent Kompany publicly spoke out in support of Jackson's contribution in the 4-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach. Kompany noticed that Jackson had suffered some negative comments from the media. He said this: "I have to say that since I came here, I have noticed that once things are going well in the team, there will always be one or two people who are deliberately singled out for criticism for no reason. Last season it was Gnabry, sometimes it was Koeman, and now it is Jackson. In fact, the atmosphere in our dressing room is quite calm."
Nicholas, who performed well in training, continued that state today. Indeed, there will be some difficulties when Kane, Olise or Dias are in need. That's all. Nico had an excellent performance today, and I hope he can do so again as soon as possible. ".
Kane missed Bayern's Champions League round of 16 first-leg away game against Atalanta the following week due to injury. Jackson contributed a goal and an assist in Bayern's 6-1 win. Unfortunately, just four days later, in Bayern's away game against Bayer Leverkusen, the 24-year-old was sent off for a reckless tackle on Martin Trier and was given a two-match ban.
Aside from this miscue, Bayern fans seemed quite satisfied with Jackson's overall performance.
Bayern must now find another forward to assist Kane. This is not an easy thing to do, but they would rather do this than spend 65 million euros to sign Jackson.
Chelsea feel Jackson's past experience at Bayern will not reduce his value, and unnamed sources told The Athletic that they still believe Jackson is worth £6,000.
There is a reason why they can still charge a high price for Jackson. Jackson moved to Chelsea from Villarreal in 2023 for a price of slightly more than 35 million euros. Since joining Chelsea, Jackson's skills have improved greatly, and the contract he signed with Chelsea still has seven years to go before it expires.
The player named Jackson played 81 games for Chelsea. He contributed 30 goals, and there were no penalty kicks among these 30 goals. He also completed 12 assists. His performance on the court can be said to be very, very, very outstanding. He helped Chelsea win the 2025 European Club League championship and the Club World Cup trophy.
Jackson has represented the Senegal national team 31 times, helping the team reach the African Cup of Nations finals in January this year. His team defeated Morocco 1-0 in the final, but the result of the game was eventually cancelled.
It is possible that he can help Bayern Munich win the Champions League and the German Cup. However, Bayern Munich has already confirmed the Bundesliga championship.
It is estimated that Chelsea will most likely not be able to participate in the Champions League next season. Selling players like Jackson will help them and raise funds to carry out other signings.
This does not mean that Chelsea has made up its mind and is looking for a new head coach. Jackson's transfer is the same as any other transfer. Whether it is buying or selling, it must be reviewed by the new head coach. The club will discuss with the new head coach before making any major decisions.
Chelsea's new head coach has a target for Andoni Iola. He hopes to lead Jackson to Bournemouth in January 2023. He and some other candidates have the possibility of letting Jackson join their team.
Even so, Joao Pedro performed well as the team's main center forward. He is Chelsea's top scorer this season, scoring a total of 19 goals. In September last year, Chelsea reached an agreement with Strasbourg and planned to sign Emmanuel Emerga this summer, which further reflected their intention to give up Jackson.
Of course, Chelsea has the possibility of renting Jackson again, and maybe adding a buyout clause. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, this situation is more like the final choice.
In the summer of 2025, Jackson's future became a hotly discussed topic at Chelsea Club. It looked like history was about to repeat itself.