Aston Villa complete signing of Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea in £65m deal

Aston Villa have completed the signing of striker Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea.

The Athletic reported on Tuesday that the two Premier League sides had agreed package of £65million for the Senegal international, with Villa paying £47.5m upfront.

Jackson has signed a five-year contract at Villa Park with the option to extend the deal by an additional 12 months. He is the second player to move to Villa from Chelsea in this window after Alejandro Garnacho joined on loan with a conditional obligation to buy, while Morgan Rogers headed in the opposite direction in a club-record £117m deal.

Reunited. This time in claret & blue.

Aston Villa is delighted to announce the signing of Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea pic.twitter.com/s2P8j6uKJa

— Aston Villa (@AstonVilla) August 28, 2026

Jackson had been a long-standing target for the club and a favourite of head coach Unai Emery

The 25-year-old spent last season on loan at German club Bayern Munich, where he scored eight goals in the league as the team won the Bundesliga title. The Athletic reported in June that Chelsea were willing to reintegrate Jackson into the squad and he featured for the club in pre-season, though he has now left the team, becoming the second Chelsea striker to depart after Liam Delap joined Nottingham Forest.

Jackson signed an eight-year deal upon joining the west London side from for £32m from Villarreal in 2023 and made 81 appearances for the side, scoring 30 goals.

Wait, won’t this impact Villa’s profit from Rogers? Well …

Analysis by football finance writer Chris Weatherspoon

The assumption from most had been that the signing of Nicolas Jackson this window, or, indeed, any permanent signing of a Chelsea player, would impact Villa’s whopping profit on the departure of Morgan Rogers to Stamford Bridge in late July.

Where UEFA deems clubs to have engaged in a ‘player exchange transaction’, they require profits to be downgraded to the net cash difference in fees. That would be bad for both clubs, with each needing to get losses down under their settlement agreements with the European governing body.

UEFA adjusted rules around such transactions to capture deals made within 45 days of one another, something which would seem to deter Villa from buying from Chelsea: Rogers’ deal completed less than 45 days before this transfer window’s end.

Yet The Athletic has learned the timing of such deals is just one factor considered rather than a determinant on its own, and a purchase from Chelsea this window would not automatically see UEFA deem the two deals of this summer as equivalent to a player exchange transaction. Similarly, a deal made outside of a 45-day window could still be deemed a player exchange transaction, if other factors listed under the rule are present.

There is, then, room for manoeuvre. Villa’s continued pursuit of Jackson is proof enough.