'Nico’s situation…' – Enzo Maresca open about Jackson’s potential transfer

While there was plenty of focus on team news – including the dreadful news of an injury to Levi Colwill – there was also plenty of transfer chatter. The first team player being most strongly linked with a move away from the club right now is Nicolas Jackson, and Maresca did little to play down those rumours when asked about the Senegal star:

“When the transfer window is open, unfortunately or fortunately, anything can happen. This also involves Nico’s situation,” Maresca said in quotes picked up by the BBC.

“At the moment we also had two strikers arrive, Joao [Pedro] and Liam [Delap]. So we will see what happens.”

Maresca could be put on the spot again with deadline day rush expected

Without giving too much away, Maresca has pretty much said that Jackson is up for sale there. It’s a tricky spot for the manager to be in. He doesn’t want to promise that the striker won’t go, then see him sold. Equally he doesn’t want to make it feel like the 24 year old is being pushed out. He may yet stick around and have an important role to play in the season to come.

Unless something is sorted in the next few days, we can expect this topic to come up time and again before the transfer window closes. The latest reporting is that Chelsea are going to bide their time and let the interested parties get desperate. We predict that this one goes down to the wire.