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Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has confessed his surprise that Manchester United failed to make a serious move for Nicolas Jackson.
United were linked with the Senegal international during the summer transfer window as his departure from Chelsea appeared inevitable.
However, no deal materialised with Bayern Munich, ultimately securing his signature in a dramatic late twist - following concerns over Liam Delap's injury.
Ruben Amorim's side were amongst the most active clubs in the market, focusing their efforts on bolstering their attacking options with Benjamin Sesko joining Bryan Mbeumo and Mathues Cunha.
Yet only the former Brentford forward has managed to find the net in the opening five Premier League fixtures, whilst Cunha made his return from injury during the 2-1 victory over Chelsea..
Hasselbaink, who scored 87 goals in 177 appearances for the Stamford Bridge outfit, leapt to Jackson's defence, expressing his bewilderment that he wasn't targeted by United or Newcastle.
"I've always liked Nicolas Jackson," he told Betway. "I think he could bring something to the team, but obviously two strikers have come in and he felt that he was not going to play as much as he was.
"He wanted to leave and you can understand that. I think Chelsea were happy to sell him.
"I was just surprised that Newcastle or Man Utd didn't try to get him.
"But he asked to leave, and I don't know what I can say about that really. He's at another club outside of England and I think Chelsea wish him well."
Jackson secured a switch to Bavaria on deadline day, in a deal which will see him remain at the Bundesliga outfit on loan until the end of the campaign.
Reports indicate that the 24-year-old's temporary move will become permanent should he feature in a specified number of matches - netting Chelsea £56.2million for the former Villarreal talisman.
Nevertheless, he has yet to register a goal in his opening three outings in Germany, including a brief substitute appearance against his parent club in the Champions League as Harry Kane's brace helped overcome Enzo Maresca's team in a 3-1 victory.
Sesko remains without a goal in his early United stint following a sluggish beginning to life in the Premier League. The 22-year-old has featured six times, once in the Carabao Cup, getting the nod in his previous two top-flight matches, but unable to trouble the scoresheet with Amorim's squad experiencing a mixed opening to the season.
Despite his faltering introduction to life in M16, the Portuguese manager has already backed him in an intriguing statement.
"When you are in a club like this, you want to have the best players but you also have to imagine the future," he said at the end of last month. "That is so exciting – I like to know the players, I like to see the videos of the players and to try to get all the information, but you want that confirmation and I felt Sesko was even better than what I was thinking.
"I have to be careful, Sesko is going to be our striker for many, many years so we need to put that in his head and let him settle down, to stay calm and enjoy his day because he's really like you said, obsessed.
"I'm really happy – not just with him but with Cunha, Diego (Leon), and Mbeumo – we know that we have the players and we know that in our future we are going to have that base and that is really important for us."
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