Arsenal hero Paul Merson disagrees with £70m Chelsea transfer decision | Football
Paul Merson has criticised Chelsea’s decision to send Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich and revealed his prediction for this weekend’s Premier League derby against Brentford.
Enzo Maresca takes his unbeaten side across west London to face Brentford on Saturday in Chelsea’s first game since the international break.
One player who will not be involved for the Blues is striker Jackson following his deadline-day move to Bayern Munich.
Jackson approved a move to Germany after watching Chelsea sign Joao Pedro and Liam Delap earlier in the summer, but Stamford Bridge bosses considered blocking the move after Delap’s recent injury.
A deal was finally agreed on deadline day, however, with Bayern Munich paying around £14m to sign Jackson on a season-long loan deal.
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The Bundesliga champions are obligated to make the deal permanent next summer for more than £56m if Jackson makes a set number of appearances.
It was difficult to see Jackson getting much game-time in west London following the arrival of Pedro and Delap but Merson was nevertheless disappointing to see the Senegal international leave.
‘The Nicolas Jackson situation at Chelsea was very interesting,’ he told Sportskeeda. ‘He was on his way to Bayern Munich and all of a sudden, Liam Delap gets injured.
‘They initially wanted to cancel Jackson’s loan but later decided to let him join Bayern, possibly with one eye on balancing the books as well.
‘If I were Chelsea, I would have kept him. I don’t think he’s a bad player. I’m surprised Newcastle did not sign Jackson though.
‘He fits the bill more than Nick Woltemade in the sense that he can be direct and make good runs like Alexander Isak.’
Chelsea will look to continue their unbeaten start to the new season on Saturday when they face a Brentford side who have lost two of their first three games.
Maresca’s side shared a goalless draw with Crystal Palace on the opening weekend before thrashing West Ham 5-1 and then beating Fulham.
Revealing his prediction for the west London derby, Merson added: ‘Chelsea weren’t great against Fulham, but they still won so it’s still a positive result.
‘They will have to be patient away from home against Brentford this weekend. But the longer this game goes on without a goal, I would be worried.
‘Brentford will sit back and I don’t think Chelsea will be able to create a lot of chances here.
‘Brentford away is never an easy place to go to and I expect Chelsea to be up against it. I still think they can hold on to a nervy 1-0 lead though.’
Jackson’s Chelsea career appeared over when he made the move to Bayern Munich but club president Uli Hoeness has already admitted he expects the striker to return to Stamford Bridge.
That is because he says Jackson will ‘never’ start 40 games this season, the figure he needs to reach to activate a permanent transfer to Bayern.
‘If anyone’s upset about this loan fee, it’s not €16.5million because the player and his agent paid €3million,’ Hoeness told SPORT1 last week.
‘That means the player costs €13.5million. And that’s not a problem at all, because if I buy a player for €80million, it also costs €16million in depreciation per year, so it’s €13million.
‘The big money only has to be paid if he starts 40 games. He never does that.’
In a subsequent interview with Sky Germany, the Bayern Munich chief added: ‘We have 32 Bundesliga games. If we reach the Champions League final, which we hope we will, that adds 13 games. The total is 45 games.
‘The DFB Pokal games do not count. So he would have to start all these games. He will go to the African Cup in January, so he can’t start 40 games – that’s what I said.’
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Arsenal hero Paul Merson disagrees with £70m Chelsea transfer decision | Football
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