Nicolas Jackson faces a swift reunion with parent club Chelsea tonight.
Chelsea begin their Champions League campaign against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, and there is a familiar face in the home side’s ranks following events on transfer Deadline Day.
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Jackson joined the Bundesliga champions initial loan for the season after falling down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge with Liam Delap and Joao Pedro both arriving in the summer.
The 24-year-old’s switch to Bavaria almost collapsed at the 11th hour due to Delap sustaining a hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over Fulham but the Blues eventually allowed for the deal to be completed.
Standard Sport understands Bayern have paid a £14.3million loan fee and have an obligation to buy Jackson for £56.2million if he makes a certain number of appearances.
What makes this deal intriguing is Jackson’s parent and loan club will face off on matchday one in the league phase of this season’s Champions League, thus setting up the possibility of Chelsea being left red faced.
It is often a hotly-debated topic, whether loanees should be able to play against the teams that they are contracted to, but can Jackson?
Can Nicolas Jackson play against Chelsea?
UEFA regulations say yes.
According to the governing body’s ‘Statement on Integrity of Competitions’, clubs cannot insert clauses that prevent their own players from facing them in European competition.
UEFA rules say that clubs cannot apply “any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may [or may not] field in a match.”
As such, players are able to face their parent sides in any UEFA tournament.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has spoken about Jackson being cleared to play and says he has no issue with the loan rules.
“For me it’s normal,” the Italian said in the pre-match press conference.
“I’m from Italy. I played many years in Spain and this rule when you are on loan you can play, so for me it’s OK.”
