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'I don’t think he’s a bad player' – Merson names Chelsea ace he would have kept this summer

Originally posted on Chelsea News | By Charlie Patrick | Last updated Sep 12, 2025 9:38 AM ET

Former Premier League player Paul Merson has stated he would have kept Nicolas Jackson this summer, and believes he’s a good player.

Jackson eventually completed a deadline day loan move to Bayern Munich, but it wasn’t without it’s difficulties given the injury to Liam Delap.

The Senegal international was on his way to Munich when Delap suffered a hamstring injury which is set to rule him out for ten weeks.

Paul Merson would have kept Nicolas Jackson

Chelsea tried to cancel Jackson’s move to Munich and ordered him to return to London to provide cover for Delap.

Jackson made it clear he didn’t want to play for Chelsea, and an agreement was eventually reached on a loan with an obligation rather than the original option.

The 24-year-old had fallen down the pecking order following the arrival of both Delap and Joao Pedro in the summer, and made it clear he wanted a new challenge.

Chelsea head to Brentford on Saturday with youngster Marc Guiu as their back-up option at striker, and Merson has stated he would he would have kept Jackson.

“The Nicolas Jackson situation at Chelsea was very interesting,” he said as cited via X.com.

“He was on his way to Bayern Munich and all of a sudden, Liam Delap gets injured. They initially wanted to cancel Jackson’s loan but later decided to let him join Bayern, possibly with one eye on balancing the books as well.

“If I were Chelsea, I would have kept him. I don’t think he’s a bad player.”