CHERRIES chairman Bill Foley shared how he felt the club had “made a mistake” in not signing Nicolas Jackson back in January.

Foley, who led a takeover of Cherries back in December 2022, is in England this week and was in attendance as Andoni Iraola’s charges were defeated 2-0 by Tottenham Hotspur.

Cherries had agreed a deal with Spanish side Villarreal worth £22.5million for Jackson, but pulled out after conducting a medical and believing that the Senegalese striker would not be available soon enough to contribute to the Dorset club’s relegation battle.

After returning in March, Jackson scored 10 times in 12 appearances, attracting the attention of Chelsea, who activated his release cause to bring him to England this summer.

The Senegalese international opened his account for the Blues on Friday night, scoring in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over newly promoted Luton Town.

With a full season ahead of new signings this summer, Cherries have ploughed on with the signings of Alex Scott and Tyler Adams, despite the midfield duo arriving with a knee and hamstring issue respectively.

A move for Gaetano Castrovilli also collapsed after the Italian failed a medical, the midfielder returning to Fiorentina to undergo ACL surgery.

In an interview live on TNT Sports prior to the Tottenham game, Foley shared: “There’s no hijacking in the NFL, where here you can keep on taking to players all the way through, and the agents.

“So in that way it’s different.”

Pressed for an example of a player Cherries might have missed out on, Foley continued: “Well, Nicolas Jackson.

“We tried to get him back this year. We had him last year, I believe we made a mistake.

“He didn’t pass his medical, but actually he played much sooner than we thought he would.

“So, I’m sorry we didn’t get him.”

Cherries are in action twice next week, first visiting Swansea City in the second round of the EFL Cup before travelling to London in order to take on Brentford in Premier League action.