The 25-year-old is aware of the strength of Aston Villa's interest, along with a fresh enquiry from an unnamed top Spanish club, but The Sun reports his preference is to remain at Stamford Bridge and compete for a starting role under Xabi Alonso, having enjoyed working with the Spaniard during Chelsea's pre-season tour of Asia.
That marks a shift from twelve months ago, when the signings of Liam Delap and João Pedro pushed Jackson down the pecking order and left him fighting for a place among the substitutes for much of the campaign.
Unai Emery, who gave Jackson his big break in European football at Villarreal, has never hidden his admiration for the Senegal international and remains in regular contact, offering feedback on his game even from a distance.
But Jackson's camp accepts the final decision may not rest with the player alone, and with Chelsea's business expected to accelerate in the closing days of the transfer window, his situation could yet change quickly regardless of his stated preference.
Last season Jackson effectively forced his own exit, engineering a loan move to Bayern Munich to play under Vincent Kompany after falling out of favour at Chelsea. He left a positive impression on both the playing squad and coaching staff in Munich, contributing to 14 goals and assists in all competitions, but Bayern ultimately chose not to make the move permanent.
Having fallen short of a big-money switch once already, Jackson is determined to show he can become a consistent goalscorer rather than remain, in his own eyes, a persistent nearly-man.
For now, he is leaning toward staying and competing for a role at Chelsea, though that will also depend on whether the club themselves want him to stay and what kind of role Alonso is prepared to offer him this season.