Chelsea travel away from Stamford Bridge to take on Brighton & Hove Albion in their penultimate Premier League match of the season on Wednesday night.
The Blues are fighting to secure a top six finish in the division as they currently sit behind Newcastle United, who are sixth as it stands, on goal difference.
Mauricio Pochettino and his side are battling it out to secure Europa League football for the club for the 2024/25 campaign, having gone through the current term with no European matches.
Landing a place in either the Europa League or the Europa Conference League next season, though, will mean that there are more games to contend with throughout the year.
This means that Pochettino will need more depth in his squad to cope with the schedule, and one area that the club are reportedly looking to strengthen in is the centre-forward position.
The Blues are reportedly looking at a Premier League striker who could come in to compete with Nicolas Jackson for a place in the starting XI at Stamford Bridge next term.
Chelsea's interest in Premier League marksman
According to journalist Simon Phillips' Substack column, as relayed by the Chelsea Chronicle, the club are exploring the possibility of adding a new centre-forward to the group for the 2024/25 campaign.
The reporter adds that Brentford marksman Ivan Toney, who was once dubbed a "monster" by manager Thomas Frank, is one of the number nines on Chelsea's wishlist ahead of the summer transfer window.
He also reports that a fee of around £40m is set to be enough to secure his services at the end of the season, although the Bees could look to push that higher if they can – possibly depending on the volume of interest from elsewhere.
Todd Boehly and his team are seemingly lining him up as one of a group of striker options who could come in to add further firepower to Pochettino's frontline.
Napoli's Victor Osimhen and RB Salzburg's Benjamin Sesko are also named among the club's targets in the report, which shows that Toney is not the only player being eyed up by the London giants ahead of the summer.
There is also no mention of whether or not Chelsea are prepared to pay the £40m that he is said to be available for, or if they will look to drive the price down even further if they decide to make a formal approach for his signature.
If they can get a deal over the line for the former Peterborough star, though, then he would be a dream partner for Nicolas Jackson on and off the pitch next term.
Nicolas Jackson's form this season
Chelsea signed the Senegal international from Villarreal during last summer's transfer window and he has had mixed success in the Premier League so far.
For a 22-year-old striker in his first season in England, a return of 14 goals and five assists in 29 starts for the Blues is hardly a dreadful debut campaign from him.
He has produced 19 direct goal contributions in 29 starts, more than one every other start on average, and this shows that he has made a big impact in the final third at times.
However, the former LaLiga star has also let himself down at times with his underwhelming finishing, which shows that he is far from the finished article at this moment in time.
The young attacker has missed a staggering 23 'big chances' to go along with his 14 goals in the Premier League, and this illustrates how wasteful he has been with the high-quality openings that his teammates have created for him.
Nicolas Jackson
17.86
14
-3.86
Enzo Fernandez
6.33
3
-3.3
Raheem Sterling
9.23
7
-2.23
Malo Gusto
1.34
0
-1.34
Marc Cucurella
1.15
0
-1.15
As you can see in the table above, Jackson has been the worst finisher in the squad as no other player has underperformed against their xG as badly as he has.
This suggests that Pochettino and Chelsea cannot rely upon him to be the only natural number nine option in the squad as they head into a season with potentially the League Cup, the FA Cup, the Premier League, and the Europa League to contend with.
Why Chelsea should sign Ivan Toney
The Blues should, therefore, sign Toney as a dream partner for Jackson within the squad as the duo could share the load throughout the campaign.
Instead of the Senegal international being relied upon across all competitions, Pochettino could rotate the two – and possibly play them alongside each other at times – in order to avoid fatigue and to keep the competition for places high.
At the age of 28, Toney could also act as a mentor to Jackson, given that he is six years older than the current Chelsea frontman, and impart his experience in English football on to the young striker.
The Brentford star is an experienced centre-forward who has played in England for many years and now has almost three seasons of Premier League football under his belt.
He has racked up 36 goals and ten assists in 84 top-flight matches in his career to date, along with 31 goals and ten assists in 35 Championship games.
2020/21 (Championship)
22.97
32
+9.03
2021/22 (Premier League)
6.89
12
+5.11
2022/23 (Premier League)
15.42
20
+4.58
2023/24 (Premier League)
6.09
4
-2.09
As you can see in the table above, Toney has, largely, been a terrific finisher over the last four seasons for Brentford – scoring roughly between 16 and 17 more goals than expected based on the quality of chances that have been created for him.
Whereas, Jackson has underperformed his xG by more than three goals in the Premier League this season, which suggests that he needs to work on that side of his game.
Chelsea signing Toney would provide the Senegal international with a lethal marksman who knows how to be ruthless in front of goal, as evidenced by the aforementioned statistics, to learn from.
The Blues would then have a proven, experienced, Premier League striker who knows how to finish chances, in Toney, and a talented young ace who can compete and develop alongside him, in Jackson, which would make them a dream partnership for Pochettino moving forward.
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They could compete and help each other to develop and grow on the training pitch, by fighting for the starting spot, whilst the former Villarreal man could take notes on Toney's performances, on the pitch and off it in training, to better his own displays.
This means that the English star would not only be a dream partner for Jackson when they on the pitch together, with his lethal centre-forward play, but also a fantastic mentor for him to watch and learn from.