Aston Villa are on course to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in the past three seasons by finishing in the top five of the Premier League.
The Villans have made themselves European regulars under Unai Emery, despite the fact that they are not part of the ‘traditional bix six’ and were in the Championship as recently as 2019.
They cannot go and sign the best players from the biggest clubs in the transfer market, but they have been creative and snapped up undervalued players who did not make it at ‘bigger’ teams.
Emi Martinez and Morgan Rogers are prime examples of that, as they failed to make the grade at Arsenal and Manchester City respectively, before eventually ending up at Aston Villa to become stars.
Rogers left City’s academy to sign for Middlesbrough before the Villans swooped in to sign him from the Championship side for a fee of up to £16m in 2024.
Aston Villa targeting move for Premier League centre-forward
Villa hit the jackpot when they signed the English attacking midfielder, because he has gone on to score 29 goals and provide 26 assists in 119 matches for the club.
Now, Emery could repeat that masterclass by making a move to sign another player who has not been deemed good enough for one of the traditional top six teams.
According to SportsBoom, Aston Villa are one of the clubs targeting a deal to sign Chelsea centre-forward Nicolas Jackson, who could be their first signing of the upcoming summer transfer window.
The report claims that Bayern Munich are not planning to sign him permanently after his loan spell with the German giants expires, which has opened the door for Villa and Newcastle United to pursue his signature.
It adds that Chelsea are prepared to accept bids of £60m for the Senegal international because he is unlikely to make his way back into their first-team squad and it would bolster the budget for their next manager.
SportsBoom reveals that Emery, who worked with Jackson at Villarreal, has been a long-term fan of the striker and could sign him as the successor to Ollie Watkins.
How Nicolas Jackson would be the new Morgan Rogers for Aston Villa
It is easy to label players flops in modern football when a spell at a club does not go perfectly or that club decides to move on from the player, as looks to be the case with Jackson.
After two full seasons at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea decided to loan the striker out and they are now looking to sell him, but that should not put Aston Villa off. After all, Man City decided to sell Rogers to a Championship team once upon a time.
Villa, therefore, should look at this as an opportunity to sign a striker who has proven himself to be a big threat in front of goal at Premier League level.
The Senegal international racked up the fifth-most xG in the entire Premier League in his first season at Stamford Bridge in the 2023/24 campaign, whilst he also ranked tenth in the 2024/25 season with 12.34 xG.
Jackson has also generated 8.77 xG across 13 starts for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and Champions League combined this term, scoring ten goals, which shows that he has been effective in limited game time for the German giants.
The 24-year-old attacker is not the most clinical striker in Europe, having only scored 24 goals from 30.98 xG in the Premier League for Chelsea, but he provides value in generating xG through his physicality, pace, and movement.
24 goals in two Premier League seasons, despite the xG underperformance, is nothing to be sneered at. Watkins, for example, has scored 27 goals in the past two league seasons for Villa, and underperformed his xG of 12.22 with 11 goals this term.
Jackson, therefore, could be Villa’s next version of Rogers as an excellent attacker who has not been deemed good enough to make the grade at one of the ‘big six’ clubs.
There is value to be had in signing the 24-year-old marksman, who is a proven Premier League goalscorer, and he could emerge as their next star alongside Rogers if the club spend the £60m that it will take for the Blues to let him go.
Aston Villa storm into race to sign the best tackler in the Champions League
The Villans are keen on signing an “explosive” player.