Nicolas Jackson was still training with Chelsea just over two weeks ago. Now, he has a chance to ensure his former team-mates’ 2025-26 Champions League campaign starts with a defeat.
Making a big impact for loan club Bayern Munich against the visiting Londoners on Wednesday night is already on his mind. Sources speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships say Jackson was messaging friends on the eve of the two sides’ league-phase opener game at the Allianz Arena, making it clear just how motivated he is to perform well.
“The way he was talking, I am convinced he is going to score,” said one. “He may not start the game, but I can see him coming on and making the most of the spaces Chelsea leave.”
Jackson is in the unusual position of still technically being employed by Chelsea while having an opportunity to play against them, having joined Bayern on loan for the rest of this season on transfer deadline day at the beginning of this month.
Some readers might be wondering why Chelsea cannot pull rank to stop him from appearing in the match tonight. But unlike in the Premier League and FA Cup in English football, European football’s governing body, UEFA, does not have rules in place that prevent loanees from facing their parent club. This has been the case since the old European Cup was relaunched as the Champions League in 1992.
Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany — who has spoken with the player to try to gain an insight into Chelsea’s likely approach to this match — pointed out it is not the case in the German Bundesliga, either, while counterpart Enzo Maresca also said it is what he experienced when playing in his native Italy and in Spain.
Nicolas Jackson playing for Bayern against Hamburg on Saturday (Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Chelsea fans with long memories will recall how goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, a young loanee in his third straight season on loan to Atletico Madrid at the time, played against them for the Spaniards in both legs of a Champions League semi-final in April 2014. He made some key stops, particularly in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, to secure a 3-1 aggregate win for Atletico.
That scenario carried an extra complication because, under the terms of the loan arrangement between the clubs, Atletico were expected to pay another sum so Courtois could feature against Chelsea. This seemed to put his involvement in doubt, with Atletico president Enrique Cerezo insisting they could not afford it.
However, UEFA released a statement before the tie to make it clear that the arrangement was: “Null, void and unenforceable. The integrity of sporting competition is a fundamental principle.”
There has been no need for UEFA to intervene again, 11 years later.
Chelsea were well aware of the protocols when negotiations with Bayern over Jackson stepped up at the end of August. They did not make any attempt to make a request, formally or discreetly, to the player or his prospective new club for the striker to sit out on this game. Jackson also knew about the UEFA stipulation, so did not feel the need to ask about it as talks over his transfer to Bayern were finalised.
After being demoted to third-choice centre-forward at Stamford Bridge over the summer behind new arrivals Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, Jackson will not need any extra motivation for what will be his Champions League debut.
Nicolas Jackson’s last appearance for Chelsea was at the Club World Cup in July (Martín Fonseca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
The competition already has examples of players on loan to Bayern scoring for them against their parent club. Kingsley Coman’s strike helped beat Juventus 6-4 on aggregate in the 2015-16 season’s round of 16, and Philippe Coutinho followed suit with a brace in an 8-2 win against Barcelona, the latter’s heaviest European defeat, in a single-leg quarter-final four years later.
Fellow striker, England captain and new Bayern team-mate Harry Kane has sensed that Jackson is ready to follow suit.
“He’s been great so far,” Kane said at Bayern’s pre-match press conference. “In training, he’s looked really good. It’s not easy coming into a team like us, when we’re so well-drilled over the last year with the coach, the way we press, the way we like to play, and the connections. He’s still learning that aspect of it. But he shows a lot of qualities. He is very strong and fast. If he plays, he will be eager to impress; he will be eager to get his first Bayern goal. He’s had a great attitude and willingness to learn. That is the most important thing.”
Jackson has settled into life at Bayern very quickly and can already feel the potential this move might have to raise his game. The 24-year-old represented Senegal twice in the recent international break before starting training properly with his new club and told people close to him how he felt being a Bayern player has lifted his status to another level back home, such was the reception he received there.
It was not a simple transfer to conclude.
Delap suffered a hamstring injury in the victory against Fulham on August 30, which is expected to keep him out until November. Chelsea, having initially been keen to sort the Jackson move, revoked their permission for a medical to take place, only to opt to recall fellow striker Marc Guiu from what was meant to be a season on loan at promoted Sunderland on deadline day and attempt to negotiate better terms with Bayern.
They agreed a €16.5million loan fee, with a conditional obligation for Bayern to make the transfer permanent set at €65m, making for a potential total package of €81.5m (£70.9m; $96.7m at current rates).
Nicolas Jackson joins another new arrival from the Premier League, ex-Liverpool forward Luis Diaz, in Munich (R. Mitterer/FC Bayern via Getty Images)
Bayern director Uli Hoeness subsequently brought the structure of the deal back into focus, initially dismissing the possibility of the obligation being triggered after claiming Jackson has to start 40 games for it to happen, not including the German version of the FA Cup (teams in the German Bundesliga play only 34 top-flight matches per season). After the comments made strong headlines, he tried to downplay the furore. Chelsea maintained their silence, but privately remain happy about the structure which was agreed.
Sources close to Jackson are also unconcerned. They have high hopes of him joining Bayern on a permanent basis, no matter how many matches he ends up playing for them between now and May. That includes the final fee required possibly being renegotiated, even if Chelsea may take some convincing to agree to that.
Regardless, the Londoners have already signposted that they do not envisage Jackson returning to the fold by acquiring Emanuel Emegha from Strasbourg, a 22-year-old striker they believe boasts similar attributes to the Senegal international and with the potential to surpass him, for summer 2026.
The drama of the past few weeks, and the on-off nature of the move, combined with those Hoeness comments, certainly sparked a strong response from Diomansy Kamara, one of Jackson’s representatives, in the build-up to his swift reunion with Chelsea this week.
When asked whether he envisaged the player going back to Chelsea on an episode of sports talk show Talents D’Afrique on French TV’s Canal+ Sport, Kamara replied: “Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Today at Chelsea, the relationship with (Enzo) Maresca isn’t necessarily the best.”
This claim was met with surprise by Maresca when asked by The Athletic on Tuesday night. “I did not have any problem with Nico,” he said. “He is a good guy, a good professional and worked well with us. And that’s it.”
Enzo Maresca talks with Nicolas Jackson last December (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Kamara added to the intrigue by talking about what Hoeness had to say, too.
“It’s a war of egos between the two clubs,” he said. “He (Hoeness) even rowed back on his comments. It’s true that there is a saga around the transfer. There was talk around how many matches Nico would have to play for an obligatory option. Nico’s objective isn’t to play 40 matches. If he scores 15 goals by December, they’re not going to say, ‘Play 40 matches’.”
Given Jackson has not had much of a pre-season with Chelsea, let alone time to bed in at Bayern, it is likely he will have to settle for a place on the bench on Wednesday. Kompany may also be wary of risking a player whose desire to do well can, at times, lead to a lack of control. Chelsea know this from experience after he was sent off twice in the space of five games at the end of last season.
“You can look at it both ways (the emotion of playing against Chelsea being a positive or negative),” Kompany added. “I don’t think it’s black or white. It’ll certainly be a special game for him, there’s no doubt about that.”
Regardless of what happens at the Allianz Arena tonight, there are more chapters of Jackson’s story to be written.
(Top photo: Adam Pretty/Getty Images)