Chelsea supporters could see the return of a familiar face as part of Xabi Alonso’s squad at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League next season.
Nicolas Jackson is reportedly set to be given the chance to impress the Spanish head coach in pre-season, because his contract still has seven years left to run.
He spent the 2025/26 campaign on loan at Bayern Munich in Germany, but the Bavarian giants have opted against a permanent deal for the Senegal international.
The 24-year-old striker scored 11 goals in 34 games for Bayern in all competitions this season, including eight goals in 23 outings in the Bundesliga for Vincent Kompany.
However, his form in front of goal was not enough to convince the Bundesliga champions to pursue a second deal for the Chelsea flop this summer.
Chelsea considering summer bid for Premier League striker
Jackson scored 30 goals in 81 appearances in all competitions during his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge, including a hat-trick away at Tottenham Hotspur in his first year in London.
Despite that fairly decent return in front of goal, Alonso is already eyeing up a new striker who would arrive as an even better option than the former Villarreal man.
According to TEAMtalk, Chelsea are one of the teams eyeing up a deal to sign Eli Junior Kroupi from Bournemouth in the upcoming summer transfer window.
The report claims that the Blues and Liverpool have been keeping tabs on the young attacker for a long time and are now considering summer bids to snap him up in the off-season.
It adds, though, that Manchester City have already held talks with the player’s representatives, suggesting that they are ahead of their rivals in the race to sign Kroupi at this moment in time.
TEAMtalk reveals that the Cherries will not accept anything less than £80m for the 19-year-old talent, and it remains to be seen whether or not Chelsea are willing to pay that price for his services.
Why Eli Junior Kroupi would be better for Chelsea than Nicolas Jackson
The London giants decided to send Jackson out on loan last summer because he was too unreliable in front of goal in his first two seasons in the Premier League.
In the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns combined, the Senegal international scored 24 goals from 30.98 xG in the Premier League for Chelsea, which shows that he was incredibly wasteful with the chances that came his way.
Kroupi’s form for Bournemouth in the Premier League this season, meanwhile, suggests that he would be far more clinical for Alonso than Jackson would be.
|
Biggest xG overperformers in 25/26 Premier League |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Goals |
xG differential |
|
Eli Junior Kroupi |
13 |
+4.08 |
|
Harry Wilson |
10 |
+3.93 |
|
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall |
8 |
+3.68 |
|
Ryan Gravenberch |
5 |
+3.46 |
|
Morgan Rogers |
10 |
+2.86 |
No player outperformed their xG by more than the Cherries marksman in the 2025/26 campaign, as he found the back of the net 13 times from 8.98 xG in the division.
The teenage sensation, who was described as “the next Mbappe“, by GOAL, also scored those 13 goals from just 21 starts, showing that he was consistent as well as clinical.
These statistics suggest that he would be far more effective in front of goal for Chelsea than Jackson would be in a third season for the club, given his consistent struggles as a finisher in his first two years in London.
The Senegalese forward failed to prove, in either season, that he can be relied upon to tuck away high-quality chances that come his way, which is why they loaned him out, and that is why the club should be looking to sign a more reliable striker this summer.
Kroupi, despite being just 19, could be that player, as his current form is not a flash in the pan. He also scored 22 goals and only missed 12 ‘big chances’ in 30 appearances in Ligue 2 for Lorient in the 2024/25 campaign.
This means that the French whiz has scored 35 goals and only missed 15 ‘big chances’ at league level in the past two seasons, whilst Jackson has missed 61 ‘big chances’ in the last three campaigns combined.
Alonso will be aiming to build for long-term success at Stamford Bridge and signing a clinical 19-year-old attacker who is proven in the Premier League could be a brilliant way to kick off his reign.
It is now down to the club’s chiefs to go through with a bid to sign the forward so that they can beat Liverpool and City to his signature before the end of the summer window.
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