Chelsea told to complete mega £120m transfer after what happened in Aston Villa defeat

Mauricio Pochettino has done nothing but defend Nicolas Jackson in the early part of both of their Chelsea tenures. The 22-year-old striker, who was signed for around £30million from Villarreal in the summer, has scored just once in the Premier League since making the switch from Spain.

«Jackson is a fantastic player but he needs to be relaxed in front of goal,» Pochettino said on the striker in Friday's press conference, before losing to Aston Villa 1-0 on Sunday. «Remember Vinicius [Jr, at Real Madrid] arrived and after three seasons or two seasons and a half and started to perform.

»Always we forget we are talking about young players. You can blame me or blame us and you can talk about tactics but they need time. There's no doubt we have amazing talent but they need time to settle and for sure they will start to perform in the way we expect."

Jackson, though, was not the relaxed version of himself that Pochettino was calling upon a couple of days before. In the 24th minute of the defeat to Villa at Stamford Bridge, Jackson found himself in between the two opposition centre-backs of Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa and made a really intelligent run in behind, then received the ball from Mykhailo Mudryk but was unable to guide the ball past Emiliano Martinez in the goal.

It turned out to be the Senegal international's only shot of the game. The off-the-ball movement was absolutely sensational – and there is no doubting the striker in that regard. However, his coolness and composure in front of goal was not there and he perhaps made it more difficult than it needed to be.

«The best chance we had all match. Send Napoli a blank cheque for Victor Osimhen [who Napoli rejected a £120million bid for from Al Hilal in the summer],» one