Chelsea slap astonishing €115m asking price on flop

Chelsea have made it clear that they have no intention of selling one renowned transfer flop by putting an enormous €115 million asking price on his head.

Nicolas Jackson has shown flashes of quality since arriving in West London from Villarreal, but his erratic finishing and poor discipline have often left fans frustrated with him.

He was sent-off in the Club World Cup against Flamengo in a blow that is thought to have been fatal in his hopes of staying at Stamford Bridge in the long term. Nico did make an appearance off the bench in the semi-finals as Chelsea overcame Fluminense, yet he was wasteful when he got into a scoring position.

There is transfer interest from Serie A giants AC Milan, yet Chelsea are set to see this off by putting an astonishing €115 million asking price on his head, according to the Daily Mail.

The case for keeping Nico Jackson

Chelsea retain their confidence in the Senegal international striker, who has a contract that runs until 2033. This is despite adding Liam Delap and Joao Pedro to their ranks in another summer spending splurge.

But are they right to do so?

Nico Jackson’s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) stands at €65.2m, so he isn’t worth anything like Chelsea’s extraordinary valuation. There’s evidence that one day he might, though.

According to data analytics experts SciSports, the 24-year-old was statistically among the best-performing centre-forwards in the Premier League last season. His level was similar to that of Delap, when taking into account his all-round performances.

Nicolas Jackson vs Premier League strikers: Overall performance (2024/25)

Nicolas Jackson’s career development compared to Mbappe and Haaland

Furthermore, his potential is very high indeed. SciSports gives him a ceiling potential of 134. If he was at this level currently, he would be ahead of other world-renowned centre-forwards such as Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane and Alexander Isak and would rank as the second-best No.9 in the world behind only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.

So the quality is there in Nicolas Jackson’s games. It’s now up to Enzo Maresca and his coaching staff to unlock it.

Chelsea are playing a risk-reward game with the striker, and they are still backing their initial €37m investment.