Former Chelsea player Emmanuel Petit has urged the club to trust Nicolas Jackson and not sign Victor Osimhen or Alexander Isak this summer.
Jackson arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer from Spanish side Villareal and has impressed during his debut campaign in England.
The 22-year-old has scored 13 Premier League goals, and 16 in all competitions which is a lot better than many people would have expected.
Petit urges Chelsea to trust Jackson
The Senegal international has improved massively since the start of the season and has particularly impressed with his all round play.
The forward has good hold up and link up play and creates a lot of chances for his team-mates, but he has been criticised for the number of chances he misses.
Jackson himself has admitted he’s missed too many chances this season and should have more goals than he currently does.
The Blues are expected to sign a big name striker in the summer, and have been linked to the likes of Victor Osimhen and Alexander Isak.
However, Petit has urged the club not to sign either of those strikers and instead place their trust in Jackson.
“Chelsea do not need [Victor] Osimhen or [Alexander] Isak”, he told Grosvenor Sport.
“We all know about the No.9 curse at Chelsea and in the last couple of months, we’ve seen what [Nicolas] Jackson can do.
“There’s no need to put more pressure on him by signing someone like Isak on his back.
“You need competition in every position, but when you have someone like Jackson starting to emerge, don’t put pressure on him and let him explode.
“For me, if I’m Chelsea, I’m not buying Isak as Jackson is already beginning to flourish.”
It’s a bold call from Petit and I’m sure it’s one many fans won’t agree with, and if the club were to take his advice it would be a huge gamble no matter how much Jackson has impressed this season.
I actually agree with Petit. Assuming we can get our guys healthy we have more pressing needs than an over-priced strikers. For example, Petrovic has been good value for the money, but he’s not the world class keeper we need (especially in his distribution). We should also be looking to bring in a veteran leader with strong character to replace the whole left by Silva. The youngsters have begun to show promise, but they’ll continue to need a proven winner who’s willing to be a mentor if we expect to begin challenging for titles. Why not save the 50m-80m that we’d be splurging on, say, Osimhen, and spend it to fill more immediate gaps?