Chelsea are about to turn two strikers they no longer want into £115 million. Liam Delap is heading to Nottingham Forest, Nicolas Jackson to Aston Villa — and the Blues will profit handsomely on both.
Delap's medical at Forest is imminent. The deal is structured at £45 million upfront with £5 million in add-ons — a tidy return on the £30 million Chelsea paid Ipswich just twelve months ago. Three goals in 49 appearances is not the output of a player Xabi Alonso was building around, and surrendering his No. 9 shirt to Joao Pedro made the direction of travel obvious. Forest are getting a 23-year-old with upside. Chelsea are getting a clean profit on a player who barely registered.
Jackson's destination and what it means for Villa
Jackson's move is a bigger deal — in every sense. Aston Villa are prepared to meet Chelsea's £65 million valuation, which would make the Senegalese forward their most expensive signing ever. The context matters: Ollie Watkins is eyeing a move to Al-Hilal, and Emery needs a proven top-flight striker before the window slams shut. Jackson, who scored 30 goals in 81 Chelsea appearances and added 11 more on loan at Bayern Munich last season, fits the profile.
Bayern had the chance to sign him permanently for £56 million and passed. Villa are willing to go to £65 million. That gap tells you something about how the market values him — not a guaranteed 20-goal-a-season striker, but a player with enough quality to command a premium. Whether he's worth it depends almost entirely on whether Emery can get consistent production from him, something Chelsea never quite managed.
From a betting standpoint, Villa's attacking odds for next season shift noticeably depending on whether Watkins stays or goes. A front line built around Jackson is a different proposition — more unpredictable, higher variance. That's worth factoring in early.
The Fernandez question looming over all of it
The Jackson and Delap sales are expected to fund Chelsea's remaining business before Monday's 11pm deadline. The most significant piece of that business could be Enzo Fernandez — Manchester City are reportedly weighing a £120 million bid for the midfielder.
Alonso, asked directly about Fernandez's future after Chelsea's 3-2 win at Fulham, gave the kind of answer that signals he knows more than he's saying: "In football, I am not surprised by anything. We will see what will happen this week."
If Fernandez goes, Chelsea have already identified AFC Bournemouth's Alex Scott as a target — though Bournemouth knocked back a £64 million approach last month. That one won't be straightforward.
"About transfers, personal situations, I am not the one to ask. I don't know," Alonso said ahead of Thursday's Carabao Cup tie against Luton. For a manager who's barely been in the job five minutes, he's already navigating one of the more chaotic deadline weeks in recent Chelsea memory.
