Liam Delap Suffers Severe Injury; After Jackson Incident, Chelsea Deems Mark Giù as the Top Choice

Chelsea's summer transfer window has been eventful from day one, but the biggest drama was saved for last.

On Saturday afternoon, as Chelsea's senior management sat down to watch the team's home match against Fulham, everything seemed to be under control. Basically, all matters related to signing new players had been finalized, with only a few transfer fee payments left to handle. However, when Liam Delap clutched the back of his right thigh in the 12th minute of the game, this sense of calm was completely shattered.

Shortly after, the striker was substituted and walked straight down the tunnel for an examination.

In the VIP box at Stamford Bridge, urgent discussions began about the next steps. Chelsea's medical team then received a message instructing Liam Delap to go to the hospital immediately for a scan.

Typically, clubs would wait a few days before conducting the first crucial check-up for such injuries, so they certainly would not have felt the need to rush a player to the hospital just for a suspected hamstring strain. Such an urgent measure is usually only taken for far more serious issues.

Given the approaching transfer deadline, this would have a profound impact on Chelsea's forward line, leaving the club with no time to waste. They were faced with a critical question: what to do with Nicolas Jackson?

By this time, Jackson had already flown to Germany. Earlier that morning, he had been granted permission to undergo a medical with Bayern Munich, set to join the club on a loan deal worth €15 million, with an optional buyout clause of €65 million plus a sell-on clause. But this incident threw everything into uncertainty.

Chelsea knew that due to the sudden nature of Liam Delap's injury, they could not fully diagnose his condition accurately. Nevertheless, they obtained at least some initial assessment, and decision-makers were quickly informed that the situation was not optimistic. He would be sidelined for at least six to eight weeks, or even longer.

After the match against Fulham, the club held talks with its recruitment team, club owners, and head coach Enzo Maresca, then immediately contacted Bayern to inform them that Jackson would not be available for loan under any circumstances or terms.

The approval for the medical was revoked, and Jackson, along with his agent, was subsequently called and told the bad news: the deal was off, and he would stay at Chelsea. Currently, the only alternative would be for Bayern to buy him outright, but this was deemed unlikely. Bayern wanted to take him on loan first, as they did not have sufficient funds to complete such a large-scale transfer at the moment.

Twenty-four hours later, the situation still seemed unlikely to be resolved. Although The Athletic reported on Sunday morning that Chelsea was considering signing potential strikers, one of whom was Sporting CP forward Conrad Harder, the club only made inquiries to the relevant club and the player, and nothing more. In the end, Harder joined RB Leipzig.

Bayern Munich admitted the deal had fallen through on Sunday evening and began looking for other options, one of which was Ademola Lookman of Atalanta. So how did things change again, leading to Jackson finally being photographed in a Bayern jersey later on Monday, with the transfer confirmed?

Chelsea's decision on Sunday to consider recalling young striker Mark Giù gave Bayern the impetus to call again.

Chelsea viewed Giù as the best option, rather than buying or loaning another player. To prevent issues with Jackson—who was also being tracked by three Premier League clubs at the time—the club needed to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

The transfer agreement reached with Sunderland earlier that month did not include a break clause for this transfer window, though one existed for January. In the end, Chelsea had to agree to refund the loan fee it had received from Sunderland to get Giù back.

Negotiations between Chelsea and Bayern resumed late on Sunday and continued into Monday. Crucially, both sides were willing to make concessions. Bayern was prepared to revise the contract to include a conditional obligation to buy next summer, rather than just a simple option. Since Jackson was still in Germany and clearly still had his sights set on Bayern, Chelsea was also ready to negotiate—especially as they had already identified Giù as a replacement.