Chelsea target says goodbye as Blues look to sign new striker and keep Jackson-Bayern deal alive | OneFootball

Just when we thought Chelsea were progressing nicely towards a really well rounded squad at the end of this window, things have been thrown into disarray.

The Blues had finally got their ducks in a row – Christopher Nkunku went to AC Milan, Nicolas Jackson was heading on loan to Bayern, then Alejandro Garnacho was going to join. One other attacker – maybe Fermin Lopez – would be signed if the price was right.

Chelsea thrown into chaos by Delap injury

Liam Delap lies injured. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

But Liam Delap’s injury yesterday threw it all off. Now Chelsea can’t let Jackson go, meaning the whole deal they’ve spent a long time putting together is set to fall apart. Jackson and his party are desperate to salvage it, and Matt Law’s piece for the Telegraph today has some interesting new additions to the situation.

The Jackson loan is on hold, rather than cancelled. The Blues are looking at buying another striker, and then allowing that deal to go ahead. One name mentioned here is Conrad Harder of Sporting Lisbon, who featured as a sub last night for the Portuguese team in their defeat to Porto.

He made some very visible farewells at full time, but at that point Chelsea weren’t on the radar. It was RB Leipzig being most strongly linked to the Danish international.

Harder may be too premium to be third choice

Harder is certainly an interesting option, but looks a little expensive given he will effectively be a third choice player behind Joao Pedro and Delap.

If Delap’s injury is really bad and he could miss more than a couple of months, a new striker is needed, and perhaps Harder makes sense in that case as he could rack up a good number of starts. But if it’s just standard hamstring strain and Delap could be back by October, we suspect Chelsea will look for cheaper options or simply give up and cancel the Jackson move.