Nicolas Jackson ‘open’ to return but Chelsea have signed his substitute | Football

Nicolas Jackson is ‘open’ to the potential for returning to Chelsea however the club consider they’ve already signed his long-term substitute.

Jackson spent two seasons at Stamford Bridge, scoring 30 goals in 81 appearances, before joining Bayern Munich on loan last summer.

The Senegal striker enjoyed a promising first season at Chelsea but didn’t kick on last term despite the Blues qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Europa Conference League.

Jackson was delighted to affix Bayern, even staying in Munich when Chelsea threatened to dam the deal, and had hoped to earn a everlasting move to the Bundesliga giants.

Bayern Munich spent around £14m simply to sign Jackson on loan and agreed a cope with Chelsea to make the deal permanently this summer for an additional £56m.

But that clause would only be activated if Jackson made a set variety of appearances for Bayern and it quickly became apparently that he would fall short.

Playing back-up to England captain Harry Kane, Jackson has only began five league games and two Champions League games to date this season.

Which means Jackson will fail to activate an obligation-to-buy clause in his loan agreement and can likely return to Chelsea at the top of the season.

Bayern would after all still have the choice to renew talks with Chelsea and agreed a brand new deal but that appears unlikely given Jackson has only scored five goals in all competitions.

Jackson attracted interest from clubs in England, Italy and Spain last summer but has not ruled out the potential for returning to Chelsea, in keeping with The Times.

Enzo Maresca was in charge on the time of Jackson’s Chelsea departure however the Italian has since been sacked and replaced by Liam Rosenior.

Consequently Jackson is ‘leaving his options open’, although Chelsea are reportedly planning for all times without the 24-year-old and consider they’ve already signed his substitute.

The Blues paid almost £100m for Brighton’s Joao Pedro and Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap last summer, while additionally they confirmed a pre-agreement to sign Emanuel Emegha from partner club Strasbourg.

Netherlands international Emegha, 23, decided to remain on the French side for one more season before moving to west London in 2026.

Emegha scored 14 goals last season and has seven in 11 appearances throughout the current campaign, which has been suffering from injury issues.

Chelsea have high hopes for the Dutchman and Fabrizio Romano has suggested they see Emegha as Jackson’s substitute given their similar forms of play.

While Jackson was hardly prolific for Chelsea, plenty of pundits were critical of the choice to maneuver him on last summer.

Arsenal legend and Chelsea fan Paul Merson, for instance, said: ‘Up front, I feel the choice to let Nicolas Jackson leave is coming back to bite them a bit.’

While Jackson’s opportunities at Bayern have been limited, he remains to be set to be a part of their Bundesliga-winning squad, with Vincent Kompany’s sidesix points ahead of second-placed Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern Munich are also certainly one of the favourites to win the Champions League having finished second behind Arsenal within the eight-game group stage.

Jackson’s parent Chelsea are fifth within the Premier League and in addition advanced straight through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

They beat Championship side Hull City 4-0 within the FA Cup on Friday night and return to Premier League motion on Saturday against relegation-battlers Burnley.

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