Mauricio Pochettino has to make it his mission to land a clinical striker this summer if his first season as Chelsea head coach is to be a success.
The Blues scored just 38 goals in 38 Premier League games last season, with their top scorer (Kai Havertz) managing only seven goals, making that an obvious area of improvement.
A number of striking options have inevitably been linked with Chelsea in recent weeks, including the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Rasmus Hojlund, but it appears their focus is now on landing Nicolas Jackson from Villarreal.
According to football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea have showed a "concrete" interest in Jackson and are now weighing up a move for the in-demand attacker, who is widely expected to be on his way to an English club.
What can Nicolas Jackson bring to Chelsea?
Jackson impressed for Villarreal in LaLiga last season with 12 goals and four assists in 26 appearances, helping his side get over the line to land a Europa League spot.
According to FBref's player comparison model, Jackson's performances over the past year have been similar to those of Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann – three players who need no introduction.
Despite the hype surrounding the 21-year-old, the Evening Standard suggests he is available for £30m this summer, which is £58.5m less than they splashed out on Mykhailo Mudryk in January.
If it is a focal point Chelsea want, that is very much what they will be getting in Jackson, a player who measures in at 6 foot 1 and won 68.4% of his aerial duels in the 2021-22 campaign.
Indeed, there are many similarities between Jackson and Chelsea legend Didier Drogba, not just in terms of their stature (Drogba is 6 foot 2) but also their all-round stats.
Taking both players' entire careers, which spans 507 games more for Drogba than Jackson, there is little between the pair in terms of assists per 90 (0.22 for Drogba, 0.17 for Jackson) and shots on target percentage (39.7 v 43.4), as per FBref.
They are alike in non-attacking metrics, such as tackles won per 90 (0.62 v 0.59) and yellow cards received (0.21 v 0.29).
Drogba does have a better goalscoring return of 0.56 goals per 90 minutes, compared to Jackson's 0.40, but the Ivorian did not hit double figures for goals in a single season until his fifth full campaign at senior level.
Jackson, by comparison, did so in his second season in LaLiga, with his 2022-23 figures being described by football talent scout Jacek Kulig as the "beginning of something extraordinary".
Chelsea boast plenty of attacking wide players, but there is nobody in the team that shows the clinical edge to stick chances away. In a player who has a 29% goal conversion return, Jackson could be just their man.