Chelsea “can’t depend on” player who is going backwards claims Athletic writer | OneFootball

There is only one person to talk about in Chelsea world right now: Nicolas Jackson.

The striker is never far from the headlines – he always seems to either be scoring so much that he’s held up as one of the best in the league, or on a drought full of comedy misses that go viral.

Card happy Jackson not showing signs of progress

This week it’s his faulty disciplinary record that’s got him on the back pages. So far he’s been criticised for his endless accumulation of silly yellows. Yesterday he took it to a new level by getting a silly red.

Chelsea were bound to sign a new striker this summer already, but this season-ending act of foolishness has reinforced the belief in many that Jackson simply can’t be a long term primary option. That’s the crux of Simon Johnson’s article for the Athletic today – and that’s a writer who has covered Jackson in pretty much every game since he arrived at Stamford Bridge 2 years ago.

Johnson points to a few numbers which make the problem clear – given the suspension for the final games of the season, we now know that Jackson will end this campaign with 10 goals from 30 appearances. Last season he got 14 in 35.

As Johnson points out, Chelsea need a player who can score 25 goals in one season, not 24 in two.

Chelsea can’t be held hostage by Jackson development anymore

The forearm smash which saw Nicolas Jackson sent off.

He was raw when he arrived, and we all accepted that. What we wanted to see was development. Well, the number of goals has dropped, and he’s not made any progress. He’s gone from 10 bookings in 44 appearances last season to 8 in 32 this season, plus a straight red.

“Somebody who keeps making the same mistakes is not an individual upon whom you can depend,” as Johnson puts it.

Jackson may well take those final steps and put his game together – he has so many positives qualities, we can see why the risk was taken on him for two years. But Chelsea can’t tie their future to him any longer.