Chelsea 'open talks over a £30m move for Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson'

Chelsea have reportedly opened talks over a move for Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson.

New Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino is set to begin work on July 1 as the club looks to bounce back from a dismal season.

Despite spending more than £600m on 18 players across the summer and winter transfer windows, they finished in the bottom-half for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign.

However, they are keen to invest heavily again as the former Tottenham manager looks to rebuild the club.

And, according to the Evening Standard, they have stepped up their plans to bring in a new striker with Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson identified as a summer target.

Jackson, 21, is a Senegal international and ended the season in fine form for the LaLiga outfit, netting nine goals in eight games.

Chelsea - who must make a decision on what to do with expensive flop Romelu Lukaku this summer - are desperate to bring in a striker and the report states they met Jackson's representatives last week to talk about a potential transfer.

Jackson was linked to both Bournemouth and Aston Villa in January, but the Cherries called off a potential £20.3m move due to concerns about a hamstring injury.

Since breaking through into Villarreal's first team, he has netted 13 goals in 48 appearances.

Despite this meagre goal record, he has the ability to play across the front line and when he featured as a central striker this season, the 21-year-old netted 10 times in 18 games, while adding four assists.

He is seen as a much cheaper alternative to another Chelsea target Victor Osimhen, with a deal of around £30m likely to be enough to prize Jackson away from Spain.

This is in comparison to Napoli star Osimhen - who is valued at around £100m, with the Blues appreciating it will not be a straightforward task to bring in the Nigerian this summer.

Elsewhere, Atalanta forward Rasmus Hojlund and Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic are also targets.

Despite Kylian Mbappe seemingly being up for sale after a fallout with PSG, Chelsea are unlikely to move for him given his price tag is expected to be more than £150m, while he also reportedly earns £893,000-per-week.

After scoring just 38 goals in 38 league games in 2022-23, the Blues are desperate to bring in more firepower this summer.