Xabi Alonso’s first Chelsea problem: The transfer mistake BlueCo didn’t see coming

16 May 2026 11:03 BST |
6 min read

Robin Bairner
|
Chief Editor

Accredited football journalist and editor covering the game since 2006

🚨 Watch Video Highlights Here

Xabi Alonso is set to be named as Chelsea’s new manager, and one of the many problems he will face as he takes the Stamford Bridge post is how to deal with one of the best players in the world.

The Blues have many leading talents on their books, including Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, yet there is a forgotten man in the Stamford Bridge squad who has been both overlooked and forgotten.

Step forward Nicolas Jackson, who is a case study in the mayhem of BlueCo’s transfer policy as a player whose attributes have not been exploited in West London.

Signed in a €37 million deal from Villarreal in 2023, the Senegal international was shipped out to Bayern Munich on loan last summer while Joao Pedro and Liam Delap were recruited to fill the No.9 role.

Chelsea already appear to have given up on the 24-year-old, yet the Stamford Bridge side might want to reassess their stance on the still youthful striker.

Nicolas Jackson: The surprising analysis of Chelsea flop

Jackson netted 24 goals for the Blues across his two seasons in West London, finding the net at a rate of once every 210 minutes in the Premier League.

His record in the Bundesliga is solid, too. He has scored seven times in less than 1000 minutes of competitive play, with his opportunities squeezed by the devastating form of Harry Kane.

Indeed, data analytics firm SciSports rates Jackson as the fifth-best pure centre-forward in the world, trailing only Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe.

While it’s surprising to see Jackson in such illustrious company, SciSports’ analysis is based purely on in-game statistics and is designed to eliminate bias from the eye test.

Indeed, the Senegalese striker’s level has improved significantly since he moved to Bayern. His SciSkill – which is a figure that SciSports put on their ratings – has leapt to 120.5 over the last six months. This is described as a period of ‘rapid improvement’ in the striker’s play.

Over this time, he has leapt above other leading forwards in the ratings of the analysts, including Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez, who has had a price tag of well more than €100 million hung around his neck amid interest from Arsenal, PSG and Barcelona.

Nicolas Jackson at Bayern

Bayern will send Jackson back to the Blues in the summer, having decided that his buyout clause of €81.5 million is too steep. They have other priorities, with Kane still very much their No.1 centre forward. Jackson’s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV), meanwhile, sits at €49m.

Bundesliga expert Tom Weber explained: “When he actually gets on the pitch, he is an above-average, well-rounded striker who is able to link up with his teammates and get himself into good positions with intelligent movement.

“However, he is also still an erratic finisher and can be frustrating with his decision-making when he gets a sight of goal.”

German football expert Ronan Murphy added: “Having a reliable second striker is crucial to Bayern Munich’s hopes of success, because success for them is not just winning the Bundesliga or the DFB-Pokal.

“Success for Bayern is challenging for the Champions League while setting domestic records. They unfortunately lost to PSG in Europe this season, but obliterated the single-season goals record in Germany. Not all of that was down to Harry Kane.

“Fortunately, they had Jackson on loan from Chelsea and that proved an astute arrival as the Senegal forward scored 10 times to help give Kane a rest without a massive downturn in form. He probably didn’t play as much as he or Chelsea would have liked and even got himself sent off, but the experience would have given him the resilience and desire he needs to succeed at his next location.”

Xabi Alonso’s Nicolas Jackson dilemma

Jackson rates far better than any of Chelsea’s other centre-forward options in SciSports’ analysis, including Joao Pedro, so could this potentially make him an option for next manager?

Much depends on the identity of the new boss. It looks likely to be Xabi Alonso, who favoured a 3-4-3 formation at Bayer Leverkusen that was ultra-quick in transition.

Jackson does have the type of mobility that would suit Alonso’s system but does not appear as built for it as Joao Pedro. The Brazilian is quicker and better at holding the ball up for support runners from deep, making him a more natural fit if the Spaniard transitions back to what made him successful at Leverkusen.

This is likely to leave Jackson on the periphery of the manager’s thoughts and, if this likely scenario is the case, will lead to him being sold.

Just as others such as Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne have had to leave Chelsea to go onto stardom, the same could prove the case with Jackson. While the Blues may celebrate a big-money sale, it is another that they may live to regret.

Related stories:

Chelsea’s Xabi Alonso talks ‘accelerating’ – but Liverpool delaying a quick appointment

Chelsea Transfer News Today: Joao Pedro offer as Xabi Alonso verdict drops

Transfer Rumours: Woltemade escape route as director jets in for Chelsea talks

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•Google Play

•App Store

Robin Bairner is an eminent digital football journalist who has been writing about the sport for major global publishers since 2006, specialising in Ligue 1 and Scottish football. He has been chief editor of the FootballTransfers global edition since its launch in 2020. Previously Bairner had been a key member of the editorial team which helped Goal.com become the world’s biggest football website. He covered multiple major competitions as a correspondent for Goal including the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he had the opportunity to work in Fortaleza. Among his highlights of the competition was Brazil’s quarter-final victory over Colombia.

View full bio