Chelsea transfer news: Xabi Alonso left in no doubt over Nicolas Jackson decision after Senegal, France World Cup game

Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson failed to get on the scoresheet as Senegal suffered a 3-1 defeat to France in their World Cup fixture on Tuesday night.

However, the former Bayern Munich loanee delivered a performance that should only lead to Xabi Alonso choosing to keep the versatile attacker in his squad.

Jackson squandering a testing close-range chance with Senegal trailing 1-0 may attract headlines, but the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to assessing his general display.

Within the opening 10 minutes, Jackson showed aspects of his game that Chelsea missed last season, holding off the attentions of France central-defensive pairing William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano and producing a number of neat, intelligent flicks that helped Senegal set the tone in the first half.

Senegal's Jackson reminds Chelsea what they are missing

The 24-year-old chose his moments when to press, keeping the Arsenal and Bayern Munich stars on alert, before he almost made the breakthrough midway through the first half.

Having cleverly found space and being faced up by Upamecano, Jackson accelerated into space before his low left-footed shot hit the inside of the near post, bounced off goalkeeper Mike Maignan and rebounded behind for a corner.

A poorly-timed run before superbly striking a bouncing ball into the roof of Maignan's net should not take away from Jackson - viewed as Harry Kane's understudy throughout 2025-26 - showing the confidence that was sometimes not on show during his first stint at Chelsea.

There were parts of Jackson's performance that need improvement. He showed a lack of nous to deal with the attentions of Maignan and Aurelien Tchouameni at corners, while he sometimes failed to show ideal timing with his runs, albeit left dealing with several overweighted passes.

Nevertheless, this should only be viewed as a night of encouragement for Jackson, who played like someone eager to prove himself to Alonso and his many critics.

Will Alonso view Jackson as Chelsea's number nine?

Has Jackson done enough to dislodge Joao Pedro down the centre of Chelsea's attack based on one performance? Perhaps not.

That said, the way in which Jackson breached the French defensive line showed that he could be used as Chelsea's number nine with Pedro as a number 10, either on his own or alongside Cole Palmer should Alonso decide that is the best way to go.

Senegal will hope that there is more to come from Jackson. Their showdown with Norway on Monday night will be regarded as a must-win if they want to lower the stakes of their concluding Group I game with Iraq.

Based on this outing, though, Jackson could have even more joy when he is not up against two of the best centre-backs in world football.