According to the Post, Chelsea is unlikely to look for a replacement after Jackson leaves the team, and the club believes that the existing roster is strong enough.
The 24-year-old striker has informed the club that he hopes to leave, according to the Post last week. As a result, Jackson was excluded from the list of friendly matches between Maresca against Leverkusen and AC Milan. He trained alone on weekends, but some said he was not seen training with the Bomb Squad (including Sterling, Vega, Chuk Umeka, Gilchrist, David Fofana, etc.). Sources in the Jackson camp said they are still considering options, including Newcastle United, as the latter is facing the Isaac crisis. Chelsea insiders insist that if Jackson is willing to stay, the club will be happy to let him participate in the upcoming season, competing for striker positions with Drapp and Joao Pedro. However, the club is not looking for a replacement for Jackson's possible departure.
This will make Maresca only two senior strikers available in the 2025/26 season, and fans will remember that in the 2024/25 season, the team faced a shortage of strikers due to injuries to Jackson and Giu. At the time, Maresca even joked that he might need to play on his own. Eventually, Neto was used as the fake Nine, while another attacker, who might leave the team, failed to do it.
Despite the possibility of losing Jackson and loaning Giu to Sunderland, Chelsea believes that Drapp and Joao Pedro are strong enough. In addition, they also have Neto, Palmer and Estewan who can be used as pseudo-Nine.
To determine Jackson's real market value, The Post consulted the scientific transfer algorithm of the Swiss CIES football observatory. According to their calculations, Jackson is worth 85 million euros (£73.3 million), but they also point out that Jackson's value is falling and Chelsea has made it clear that he is willing to sell him this month.