Did Loan Saga Hurt Nicolas Jackson’s Bayern Munich Chances?

This summer was filled with twists and turns and a number of moves were forced through.

Perhaps the highest profile demand came from Alexander Isak who pushed hard for his switch from Newcastle United to Liverpool.

Isak accused Newcastle of broken promises as he demanded he be allowed to make the head spinning £125million departure to join up at Anfield to try and win silverware.

Then there was Yoane Wissa who did a similar thing at Brentford, ironically in an attempt to replace Isak at the Magpies.

Both Wissa and Isak burned bridges and tainted their legacies at their former clubs but, in the end, they got what they wanted.

Neither have succeeded thus far with Isak coming up short with just one goal in his eight appearances across all competitions.

Even that strike came in the Carabao Cup against EFL Championship competition in the form of Southampton.

Nicolas Jackson struggles at Bayern Munich

Wissa, meanwhile, has not yet played for Newcastle due to injury sustained on international duty with his new club due to receive compensation from FIFA over the issue.

Marc Guehi at Crystal Palace might have bucked the trend having refused to force his summer Liverpool move and his loyalty to Crystal Palace has been rewarded with decent form.

The Eagles also eliminated the Reds from the cup and won the Community Shield before the league campaign kicked off.

The defender, though, remains the exception to the rule with Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson also falling foul of football karma.

The Senegalese forward, 24, went through his own summer saga after he agreed a loan move to Bayern Munich which cost the Bundesliga giants around £14m with a future fee option of £60m tacked on.

It was an awkward deal to be done for Jackson and his representatives and was complicated significantly by the Blues.

Chelsea’s new signing Liam Delap had hardly kicked a ball for the club when he was picked to face Wolves in the Carabao Cup back in August.

He suffered what would turn out to be a serious injury in that tie and that forced his club’s hand despite having already agreed to let Jackson leave for Bayern.

The frontman and his agents refused to turn their flight around and they dug their heels in to get the move sanctioned.

Eventually Chelsea relented – albeit for a larger fee than initially agreed – and Jackson got his “dream move” to the Allianz Arena.

But how has he fared? The short answer is not so good.

Nicolas Jackson’s Bayern Munich form

Jackson is not necessarily known for being a prolific goal scorer.

At Villarreal he scored 13 in 48 appearances but that still earned him his move to Stamford Bridge. There he notched 30 in 81 which is a bit better.

But at Munich he was expected to consistently find the back of the net which he has not done yet to any real degree.

Jackson has played 12 times for the club in all competitions and struck just three times with one assist thrown in there against Paphos.

He only has one goal in the Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen and two in the UCL – vs Paphos and Club Brugge – which is not the best return for their investment.

Jackson has only played one full 90 minutes.

Will Bayern sign Jackson permanently?

With his statistics as they are, you would have to speculate that Bayern would NOT want to splash out mega money on the underperforming attacker.

He would have to work extremely hard to oust Harry Kane who has shone for the club this season so far with a whopping 23 goals in just 17 outings.

Munich have been near-perfect this term so far with nine wins and a draw from 10 in the league as well as four victories from four in the Champions League.

So it would be a tough ask for Jackson to force his way into the starting spot in his regular position that would be worth the £60m fee.

According to reports, Bayern feel the price is too expensive for their coffers with the likes of Luis Diaz and Michael Olise also ahead of the player in the pecking order on either side of Kane.

What Jackson has said about Bayern stay

Jackson seems open to the stay in Germany which is understandable.

Following his actions in the summer and his refusal to return to London, his time with Chelsea may have come to an end regardless of whether it’s Bayern he moves to or not.

Newcastle United were keen on Jackson while Aston Villa had also shortlisted the forward when considering options for their frontline.

But the 24-year-old international has acknowledged it was a difficult period when he was unsure if the move would be sanctioned.

As for what might be next, he is not yet certain where he will play his football beyond his current loan stint.

“I was very confident I’d stay here because this is where I want to play and where I want to be,” Jackson said back in September.

“It was a tough period (amid Delap issue). The last days of the transfer window were difficult, but in the end, we made it, and I’m very happy about that.”