Nicolas Jackson scored his first Bayern Munich goal on Tuesday night and pointed out that he is still working on his fitness after being ousted from first team training at Chelsea.
The 24-year-old joined Bayern from the Blues on a season-long loan, with the deal confirmed late in the summer transfer window.
The Senegal international made 37 appearances for Chelsea last season, scoring 13 goals, but after the signings of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, he had fallen down the pecking order under Enzo Maresca.
He has now made five appearances for his new side and got off the mark in terms of goals in a 5-1 win over Cypriot side Pafos in the Champions League.
Jackson played the full 90 minutes and noted that his start at Bayern has not been helped by a lack of playing time and being made to train on his own over the summer at Chelsea.
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‘It wasn’t easy, but we played a very good game and worked hard,’ he said.
‘I’m very happy to score my first goal for the club. I’m still getting back to full fitness because I hadn’t played and trained alone for two months. I’m working hard every day.’
He added: ‘I’m very happy here, everyone welcomed me very well. I feel home. We’ll see what the future brings.’
Jackson started up front with Harry Kane playing off him and the England captain, who scored twice, was impressed by his teammate’s performance.
‘Nicolas Jackson was fantastic today,’ said Kane. ‘He got a goal, an assist and was unlucky not to score another towards the end.
‘I’m really happy for him. We’ll need him this season to achieve our goals.’
Bayern paid a substantial loan fee to bring in Jackson for the season and have an obligation to buy him next summer for £56.75m, but only if he starts 40 games in all competitions.
Uli Hoeness, Bayern’s honorary president, attracted attention by saying ‘he’ll never do that’ but clarified that this was no dig at Jackson.
‘What annoyed me a lot is the stupidity of some journalists,’ he told Sky Sports Germany. ‘They interpreted my words as if I had something against Jackson.
‘These [journalists] didn’t pay attention in maths because I said he won’t play 40 games from the start. We still have 32 Bundesliga games. If we reach the Champions League final, which we hope we will, that adds 13 games. The total is 45 games. The DFB Pokal games do not count. So he would have to start all these games.
‘He will go to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, so he can’t start 40 games, that’s what I said. What I wanted was to help Max [Eberl, sporting director], because he was accused of granting this [obligation to buy].
‘The same goes for the fact that the player and his agent contributed to the deal. That’s something positive, because it took the loan fee down to €13.5m (£11.8m). Those are positive things.’
Jackson’s agent, Ali Barat, told RMC Sport: ‘They have a mandatory purchase option if he plays 40 games, but they also have a €65 million option.
‘So I think if Nico Jackson performs this season, given the current market price for strikers, at €65 million in my opinion, they should buy him.
‘Again, it all depends on how Jackson fits in and performs. But normally, with the potential he has, I don’t think they’ll have a problem paying the €65 million at the end of the summer.’