BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich succeeded in signing Senegal forward Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea on Monday after an on-off transfer saga.
Jackson arrived in what both clubs described as a season-long loan, giving Bayern backup for Harry Kane and a wider range of tactical options in attack.
Negotiations were widely reported in the British and German media to revolve around an option or conditional obligation to turn the loan into a permanent deal. Neither club immediately confirmed under what conditions Bayern would be expected to buy Jackson.
The deal was reportedly nearly derailed by an injury to Jackson’s Chelsea teammate Liam Delap, which caused coach Enzo Maresca to question whether the team had enough depth.
“Nicolas was immediately keen to play for Bayern, so we’re especially pleased that things have finally worked out,” Max Eberl, Bayern’s board member for sport, said in a statement.
Jackson, who signed a contract extension to 2033 last September, fell out of favor at Chelsea after the offseason signings of strikers Liam Delap and Joao Pedro.
The Senegal striker struggled at times at Stamford Bridge because of his wasteful finishing and disciplinary issues.
Bayern was hoping for a loan signing to add depth to an attack which depends heavily on England captain Kane.
Bayern powerbroker Uli Hoeness last month said the club should make only loan signings for the rest of the transfer window, avoiding any more big-money signings following the arrival of Luis Díaz from Liverpool.
Bayern was left with a slimmer squad and wage bill after the departures of Kingsley Coman, Thomas Müller and Leroy Sané.
Eberl had a frustrating offseason in which he failed to sign Germany players Nick Woltemade or Florian Wirtz from Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively.
Apart from Díaz, Bayern’s only other significant reinforcement in the transfer period was Jonathan Tah’s arrival on a free transfer from Leverkusen.
The arrival of Jackson — even if he was unwanted at Chelsea — was an eye-catching deal for the Bundesliga at the end of a window where the focus was typically on who was leaving Germany.
Bayer Leverkusen's title-winning team from 2023-24 was almost totally dismantled, while Stuttgart sold Nick Woltemade to Newcastle and Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko left for Manchester United. Leipzig replaced him on Monday with 20-year-old Danish forward Conrad Harder from Sporting Lisbon.
Borussia Dortmund sold Jamie Gittens to Chelsea but made up for it by signing another exciting young English player, Jobe Bellingham.
It was a summer of upheaval for Leverkusen after seeing star coach Xabi Alonso return to Real Madrid.
Alonso's successor, the former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, was fired after just three games in charge on Monday, when there was no immediate word of a successor.
Wirtz moved to Liverpool rather than Bayern, and he was followed by other key players from the 2024 Bundesliga-winning team like Granit Xhaka, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli and Tah. Piero Hincapie joined Arsenal on Monday.
Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes moved to replace them with a host of promising young players including Morocco winger Eliesse Ben Seghir from Monaco, Loïc Badé from Sevilla, Malik Tillman from PSV Eindhoven and Ibrahim Maza from Hertha Berlin, while also signing the likes of Lucas Vázquez from Real Madrid for experience.
The signings continued on Monday with Argentine midfielder Ezequiel Fernández arriving from Saudi Arabia team Al-Qadsiah, while Nigeria forward Victor Boniface was sent to Werder Bremen on loan. Boniface won the Bundesliga with Leverkusen in 2023-24 but the club's statement on the loan suggested he was seen only as backup to Patrik Schick and the 19-year-old new arrival Christian Kofane.
Ten Hag was initially charged with leading the rebuild, but that plan quickly changed.
Promoted Hamburger SV signed two midfielders at once from Arsenal, bringing in playmaker Fábio Vieira on loan and Sambi Lokonga on a permanent deal.
After selling Woltemade to Newcastle, Stuttgart on Monday announced Moroccan attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss was joining on loan from Leicester City, a day after it said Algerian attacking midfielder Badredine Bouanani was joining from Nice. An attempt to sign South Korea forward Oh Hyeon-gyu from Genk reportedly collapsed.
AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf, Germany, contributed.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson reacts to getting a red card as he walks off the pitch during the Club World Cup Group D soccer match between Flamengo and Chelsea in Philadelphia, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, file)
Bayern Munich's Harry Kane, center, celebrates scoring during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig at Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany, Friday Aug. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)
Bayern Munich sports director Max Eberl arrives for the Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and FC Bayern Munich in Augsburg, Germany, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.
“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.
Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule being taken into the recovery vessel after crew members re entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Mike Fincke getting helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui being helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows Russian astronaut Oleg Platonov being helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, left, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON shortly after having landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Zena Cardman being helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
