Chelsea are keen to continue negotiations with Newcastle United for the signing of striker Alexander Isak and new information has arrived about a player who could move in the opposite direction.
Isak has become one of Chelsea’s top targets as they look for a centre-forward who can take them to the next level. They recently opened talks with Newcastle, but learned they may have to break the British transfer record yet again in order to sign the Sweden international.
Indeed, Isak is valued at over £115m by Newcastle, which means Chelsea might have to sweeten the deal by offering a player in part-exchange.
On that front, names like Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah and Armando Broja have already been flying around. TEAMtalk also revealed earlier this month that Noni Madueke is a player of interest to Newcastle.
And now, according to The Sun, Nicolas Jackson is also in the conversation.
Chelsea only signed Jackson last summer from Villarreal in a deal designed to lead to him becoming their long-term striker. The Senegal international went on to score 17 goals in his debut season.
However, as is obvious from their interest in Isak, Chelsea have long been thinking about bringing in a more proven centre-forward. Initially, their plan was to rotate Jackson with a new arrival, but it now seems they could completely replace him.
The Sun claims Jackson has been suggested as a player Newcastle could take in return for Isak. Obviously, their values would not be identical in the part-exchange deal; Chelsea would still have to pay a large fee on top of the striker’s services.
But the fact that the clubs would be trading a striker for a striker might hold some appeal.
Jackson is under contract with Chelsea until 2031, while Isak’s Newcastle deal is due to last until 2028.
Chelsea could sacrifice Jackson for Isak
Isak scored 25 goals last season for Newcastle, highlighting how he is better than Jackson at this moment in time. But Chelsea always saw Jackson as a long-term project to work with.
They may now be willing to cancel that project by sending him to St. James’ Park, where Newcastle are planning to offload Callum Wilson from their attack – although they will still try their all to keep Isak.
Both Newcastle and Chelsea have already been working with part-exchange deals this summer, mainly to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Regulations.
For example, Chelsea sold Ian Maatsen to Aston Villa and signed Omari Kellyman in return. Meanwhile, Newcastle are close to finalising a deal for Elliot Anderson to leave for Nottingham Forest and for Anthony Elanga to come the other way.
They were also thinking of signing striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin from Everton and sending winger Yankuba Minteh in the opposite direction, but that deal fell through and Minteh is now on the verge of joining Brighton in a club-record deal for the Seagulls.