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Chelsea fans believe Nicolas Jackson's time at Chelsea is done after he's been benched in the FIFA Club World Cup semifinal against Fluminense on Tuesday. The Blues fans on social media were quick to claim that the Senegal star is on his way out after Enzo Maresca named João Pedro in the starting XI.
In the semifinal of the FIFA Club World Cup, Maresca went ahead with Robert Sanchez in goal as usual. Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo, and Marc Cucurella are in defense. Levi Colwill missed out due to a suspension, while Reece James had pulled out of the previous match after the warm-up.
Enzo Fernandez partners with Moises Caicedo in the midfield, with Pero Neto, Cole Palmer, and Christopher Nkunku starting in front of them. It was the decision to start new signing Joao Pedro over Nicolas Jackson that has got the fans reacting on X (formerly Twitter):
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"So who's taking Nicolas Jackson then" questioned a fan soon after the lineups were out.
"Joao Pedro was relaxing on a beach last week now he’s starting over Nicolas Jackson. It’s over for Nico." claimed a fan.
"Nicolas Jackson’s career at Chelsea is over. He should just give up and come to Kotoko on loan. He can make history in the CAF Confederations Cup." boldly said a fan.
"Nicolas Jackson is definitely leaving Chelsea 😭 he’s isn’t even the second option" said another.
"It seems like we may end up selling Nicolas Jackson to keep Nkunku." said one who made a keen observation.
"Jackson’s Chelsea career is over." wrote another fan.
Nicolas Jackson was on the bench for the 2-1 win over Palmeiras in the quarter-finals after his two-match suspension. This will be Joao Pedro's full debut for the club after coming off the bench in the quarterfinal.
Enzo Maresca commented on the Chelsea attackers situation ahead of the game
Enzo Maresca spoke to the media ahead of the semifinal. He confirmed that he was looking at Joao Pedro as a striker along with Nicolas Jackson and Liam Delap. He wants all three, along with the wingers, to be scoring 10-12 goals each and said (via Tribal Football):
"For sure, I think Joao, Liam, Nico, the ones that we have at the moment, they know exactly about No.9. But I said already many times, in my mind, or in my idea, I prefer to have four or five players scoring 10-12 goals each, than just one striker scoring 40 goals."
"So, you can see last year, what we have done with Noni (Madueke), what we have done with Enzo Fernandez. And we expect next season, more goals from all our attacking players. But for sure, as I said, the ones that they are playing as a No.9 with us, they know exactly Chelsea's style."
Liam Delap sits out the semifinal against Fluminense after picking up his second booking of the campaign against Palmeiras in the quarterfinals.
