Aston Villa Remain Keen on Long-Term Target Nicolas Jackson

Aston Villa retain an interest in Nicolas Jackson, sources in the West Midlands revealed last night, despite Newcastle United’s desire to bring the Chelsea marksman to St James’ Park.

SportsBoom exclusively revealed earlier this season that The Blues’ Premier League rivals were both keen on signing the Senegal centre-forward ahead of his switch to Bayern Munich on loan.

With the Bavarians signalling they will not look to hire Jackson on a permanent basis, despite paying a world record loan fee to acquire his services, the race for a player who has scored 30 times in 80 appearances for his parent club is set to begin in earnest this summer.

Although Jackson’s contract at Stamford Bridge is not scheduled to expire until 2033, concerns there about his discipline mean he is unlikely to be offered a route back into their squad unless Liam Rosenior’s permanent successor as head coach expressly intervenes.

£60million Price Tag

Coupled with their precarious financial position and anticipated failure to qualify for the Champions League, owners BlueCo are willing to offload Jackson in order to relieve some of their budgetary pressures.

However, they will demand a significantly higher fee than the £32m they paid Villarreal to bring the former Casa Sports striker to England. 

Newcastle, depending on the whims of their Saudi Arabian hierarchy, are happy to handover at least double that amount. 

Villa, who are expected to secure a place in UEFA’s leading club competition, do not have a track record of lavishing huge sums on talent by Premier League standards. 

But, given the doubts about Ollie Watkins’ long-term fitness, they will stump-up for the right target, especially given Unai Emery’s long-standing admiration for Jackson.

After a profitable but ultimately frustrating spell in Germany, Jackson is determined to secure regular first team football next term and has indicated he would prefer to remain in England if, as expected, Chelsea agree to move him on.