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Chelsea criticised for €81.5m deal that has HARMED Cole Palmer
Cameron Smith
- 30 Sept 2025 18:00 BST
- 4 min read
News
Chelsea have been criticised for sanctioning the departure of Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich on Transfer Deadline Day.
Jackson, 24, was a pivotal player during his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge, however he lost his place to new signing Joao Pedro at this summer’s Club World Cup and the Chelsea hierarchy soon deemed him surplus to requirements.
Current ETV
Nicolas Jackson
F (C)
Bayern
Nicolas Jackson
F (C)
Bayern
ETV Range
€58.8M - €71.9M
After interest from Aston Villa, Manchester United and Newcastle United, Jackson eventually completed a loan move to Bayern on 1 September, with the deal including a €65 million obligation-to-buy if certain conditions are met.
Vincent Kompany’s side also paid a €16.5m loan fee to bring Jackson to the Allianz Arena following their failure to sign Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade - who joined Newcastle in late August.
Although Jackson had fallen down the Chelsea pecking order over the summer, former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson believes the Blues were foolish to sanction the Senegal star’s departure to Bayern due to his relationship with Cole Palmer.
Chelsea criticised for Nicolas Jackson transfer
Speaking on the The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Merson admitted: “I think Jackson was a bad sell, I really did. I thought Jackson made Palmer and Palmer made Jackson, you know as a centre forward. Put it this way, as a midfield player you like to pass the ball, you want pace up front.
“It’s a dream, and he would always go and it would open the game up and Palmer would get on the ball, he’d have space. Now all of a sudden he’s gone.”
Merson added: “All of a sudden these flair players like your [Enzo] Fernandez’s and your Palmer’s don’t get time on the ball. Yeah.
“And then all of a sudden what you do when you don’t get time on the ball, I’m just going to go further and further and further back and get the ball off the centre-half and you’re not going to hurt anybody back there. I think that’s a big problem.”
The aforementioned Pedro has registered eight goal contributions in 10 appearances for Chelsea, but the versatile attacker has been forced to play as a centre forward more than expected after fellow new signing Liam Delap suffered a hamstring injury against Fulham in late August.
Jackson, meanwhile, is yet to score his first goal for Bayern.
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