Story by Archie Griggs
Chelsea selling Nicolas Jackson to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa could reportedly fall foul of a newly-introduced UEFA rule. Jackson is thought to be the subject of considerable interest from Villa, who are in the market for a new striker to replace Ollie Watkins ahead of next week’s deadline.
Watkins has been heavily linked with a move to Saudi club Al-Hilal and missed Villa’s heavy defeat to Brighton on the opening weekend of the new season. He has since returned to training and apologised to his team-mates, but there is still a high chance that he could leave Villa Park in the coming days. As a result, the west Midlands outfit have reportedly launched a move for Jackson.
They have opened talks over a potential club-record £65million swoop for the Senegal international, according to The Telegraph.
It’s claimed that Villa are ready to meet that asking price, including add-ons, but it’s not clear if Chelsea would want the full transfer fee to be paid in one go.
Even if a deal is agreed over the coming days, the situation is complicated by a new UEFA rule. The governing body introduced new accounting language for 2026, addressing players moving in opposite directions between the same clubs within 45 days.
That could influence when and how Villa pursue Jackson, given that Morgan Rogers only left them to join Chelsea just over a month ago.
The guideline seeks to avoid clubs inflating their bottom lines through what UEFA calls “player exchange transactions”. However, according to The Athletic, there is a route for Villa to bypass that regulation despite the 45-day minimum limit.
It’s claimed that signing Jackson may not trigger a breach of the rule as it would not automatically be deemed a “player exchange transaction”.
Clubs reportedly have the option to put forward individual cases to UEFA, who will assess whether it is an entirely separate deal. In this case, Villa could argue that they would have pursued Jackson even if they hadn’t sold Rogers to Chelsea last month.
Their interest in the striker is long-standing, having initially been linked with a move for his signature in 2022, when he was still at Villarreal.
Jackson himself revealed that he almost moved to Villa Park the following year to reunite with Unai Emery, saying: “When Unai left, he wanted me to go to Aston Villa, but I was injured. I wanted to leave because the coach came in.
“I had to go, but I was injured a little bit in my hamstring. We went there, they checked and said I needed one more month and they want me now. If they want me in one week, two weeks, I was not ready, so they had to cancel the transfer, and I went back.
“When I went back, I was very angry. Not angry I didn’t sign because when we were on the plane, I told my friend, ‘Don’t worry, better things will come and that’s life.’ Then I started working more to play with Villarreal.”
