Aston Villa is in the final stages of a major transfer deal that would bring Senegalese striker Nicolas Jackson to Villa Park from Chelsea for a total fee potentially reaching £65m, according to senior football reporters Nizaar Kinsella and Nick Mashiter. The two clubs have already reached a broad agreement on transfer terms, with an initial £50m payment fixed and an additional £15m in performance-based add-ons, matching Chelsea’s full asking price for the 25-year-old international. If Jackson agrees to personal terms and completes the transfer, his arrival is set to immediately trigger the long-expected departure of current Villa striker Ollie Watkins to Saudi Pro League powerhouse Al-Hilal, in a deal valued at around £51m.
Watkins, 30, joined Aston Villa from Brentford back in 2020 and has gone on to become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League, netting 91 goals across his four-and-a-half year stay at Villa Park. Villa had been open to selling Watkins for months, but club officials refused to greenlight any exit until they secured a suitable replacement to fill the void he would leave – a step that has now been cleared by the provisional deal for Jackson. Notably, Watkins was absent from Villa’s matchday squad for their 4-0 away defeat to Brighton on Sunday, with head coach Unai Emery declining to comment on the reasons for his absence, saying any explanation should come from the player and his agent.
Negotiations over Jackson’s personal terms remain the final hurdle to complete the transfer, but sources indicate talks are already at an advanced stage. For the striker, a move to Villa would mark a reunion with Emery, who he previously played under at Spanish La Liga side Villarreal earlier in his career. Jackson joined Chelsea from Villarreal for £35m back in 2023, and has notched 30 goals across 81 appearances for the Blues. He helped Chelsea lift the Conference League title, and his most recent outing for the club came in the 2025 Club World Cup against Fluminense. Last season, he spent the campaign on loan at Bayern Munich, where he scored 11 goals in 34 matches and helped the German side claim the Bundesliga title. Bayern paid Chelsea a £14.3m loan fee for the move, but an obligation to purchase Jackson permanently for £56.2m was never triggered, as he fell just short of the required 40 appearances of 45 minutes or more outlined in the loan agreement. To date, Jackson has scored 8 goals in 37 caps for Senegal, and featured for his nation at the most recent men’s World Cup last summer.
Alongside the Jackson deal, Aston Villa is also set to loan out experienced striker Tammy Abraham to Championship side Ipswich Town ahead of the close of the summer transfer window. The 28-year-old is content at Villa, but has agreed to the temporary move to Portman Road to secure regular first-team minutes, with no option or obligation to buy included in the proposed loan agreement.
The potential arrival of Jackson is the latest step in Villa’s aggressive summer squad rebuild under Emery. The club has already brought in four new signings this window: club-record signing forward Johan Manzambi, midfielder Joao Gomes, goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, and defender Matteo Ruggeri. The summer has also seen a high volume of key departures from Villa, and a Watkins exit would mean the club has sold five players from the starting XI that won the Europa League back in May. Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa have already completed their exits, and star goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is widely expected to follow them out of the club. Chelsea has already opened talks with Villa over a potential move for the Argentine goalkeeper, who has been made surplus to Villa’s requirements following the arrival of Suzuki from Parma.