How Morgan Rogers became a £100m Aston Villa star after getting ‘lost’ at Man City – and why scouts rave about a player they believe can be the new Yaya Toure or Jude Bellingham

As he headed for the dressing room following Middlesbrough’s 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa, Morgan Rogers started to suspect something was afoot.

Even though it is a global industry worth billions of pounds, football remains a small world. It is difficult for those who work in the game to keep secrets from their peers and sure enough, snippets of information from Unai Emery’s analysis meetings ahead of the FA Cup third-round tie in January 2024 soon found their way to Rogers.

‘He kept mentioning you,’ was the word from Rogers’ opponents in the Villa side that day. ‘He really seems to rate you.’

As flattered as Rogers was, he was also a little surprised. He had not been an automatic starter in the Championship for Michael Carrick’s team and before joining Boro from Manchester City in summer 2023, he had spent time on loan with Lincoln, Blackpool and Bournemouth. While Rogers was clearly talented, there was little in those stints to suggest he would become a £100million player.

Emery saw it differently and the £8.5m deal to bring Rogers to Villa Park soon after that clash at the Riverside Stadium is one of the best of recent times. As Villa try to secure their place in the Champions League last eight by holding off Club Bruges on Wednesday, Rogers is establishing himself as one of the most dangerous attackers in Europe, with 12 goals and six assists in all competitions.

Villa have no interest in selling the 22-year-old at this stage but were they ever to consider it, they could anticipate a fee in excess of the £100m club-record sum that took Jack Grealish to Manchester City nearly four years ago.

The 22-year-old is enjoying a breakout campaign for the Midlands club and would command a large fee to sign 

The midfielder also spent time on loan in League One with Lincoln City during the 2020-2021 season

Instead, the aim is to have Rogers at the heart of the project. The forward signed a new contract only last November, taking him closer to Villa’s top earners, but if he continues to perform like this, his terms are likely to be improved again before the year is out.

If Villa qualify again for the Champions League, those plans will be much easier to realise: Rogers will have the platform to compete once more against Europe’s best, under an elite manager at an ambitious club. If they fail to reach Europe’s main club competition, the wealthy elite may start to circle.

Oliver Dehnhardt was part of the Ajax recruitment department when the Dutch giants were tracking Chuba Akpom, Rogers’ team-mate during his spell at Middlesbrough. With his capacity to play on the half-turn, Rogers intrigued Ajax back then and Dehnhardt, who is now head of football strategy at worldwide scouting platform Eyeball, has followed him closely ever since.

‘He is everything that is right about British football,’ Dehnhardt told Mail Sport. ‘He wins his share of defensive duels as well as attacking duels. It’s a joy to watch for a scout.

‘Going from the Championship to the Premier League, he seems to have sharpened up. The better the players around him, the better he seems to become. It was about whether he could improve his passing in forward areas and I feel he has done that.

‘He attacks the penalty box with the ball at his feet – that means fouls, penalties, a completely different set of problems for a defending team. He reminds me of Paul Pogba when he was at Juventus, or Yaya Toure at Manchester City under Roberto Mancini, when he used to move from the No 6 to the No 10 position later in a game.

‘I think he can play in one of the top clubs like Bayern Munich or Liverpool and he can be as decisive as Jude Bellingham for club and country. In fact, I could see them playing very well together for England.’

Becoming a champion is, however, not only about delivering on the pitch. It is about turning up on time for every training session. Doing the necessary gym work before and afterwards. Eating correctly and sleeping properly. As Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers once reflected during his time at Leicester: ‘Being a top player can be a bit boring.’

The Englishman has drawn comparisons to Yaya Toure during his time in the Premier League with Manchester City

Rogers’ physical dominance and ability to drive with the ball bears some similarities to Jude Bellingham

Emery will not tolerate players who try to cut corners and, in that respect, it feels significant that Rogers has been the one constant in numerous attacking combinations this season. The Villa boss still demands continual improvement and holds regular meetings with Rogers to ensure he builds on what he has achieved already.

Rogers still concedes possession too regularly in central areas, which can leave Villa exposed. One of Grealish’s overlooked assets at Villa was his ability to hold possession or draw fouls, allowing his team-mates to take a breath and move up the pitch. Is his eagerness to reach goal, Rogers will sometimes run into traffic or play too ambitious a pass, placing his team under pressure again. He could do better in the air, too: according to Opta data, Rogers has won only eight of his 47 aerial duels in the Premier League this season.

When Emery tries to instil these concepts, Rogers is a willing learner, as Michael Appleton knows well. Appleton was in charge of Lincoln when the 18-year-old Rogers joined the League One club on loan from City in January 2021. At the time, Tottenham forward Brennan Johnson was also on a short-term deal with the Imps.

‘When we were preparing defensive set pieces, Morgan would ask to mark the biggest players in the opposition,’ Appleton recalled to Mail Sport. ‘And when he had the ball, didn’t mind contact or close marking.

‘He wanted to learn and would ask questions in meetings. He turned up at Lincoln after his City experience saying “I just want to play football”.

‘He was able to control the ball on his back foot and that would allow him to play forward quickly. He was quiet and shy and perhaps he got lost in the system a bit at City – but he always had an inner belief in his own ability.’

Happily for Rogers, Emery shares that opinion. The Villa boss believes versatility is one of the most important qualities in modern football and Rogers’ flexibility caught his eye at once.

Using video clips on his laptop, Emery has spent hours with Rogers explaining the tactical requirements of the wide attackers, the No 10 and the No 9 in his system. The Basque has worked with some of the world’s finest forwards and has been struck by how quickly Rogers absorbs his instructions – when to drop, when to press, when to stay wide, when to move inside. 

Rogers has remained a constant in the side under Emery, who demands a lot of his players

Though Rogers has featured in 39 of Villa’s 43 matches this season, he continues to meet Emery’s demands relatively comfortably and the coaches are happy with his physical output.

While they would not admit it, Villa would be relieved if Rogers is overlooked when Thomas Tuchel names his first England squad. Emery is confident he will soon add to his two senior caps – though Lee Carsley will feel his wrath if he selects Rogers again for the Under-21s.

‘What is a player like Morgan Rogers gaining by playing for the Under 21s?’ Emery demanded last August. ‘If they had called him for the senior team, I could understand it. Morgan Rogers is a reality now and he is confirming it.’

Premier League defenders who have marked Rogers this season will confirm Emery called that one right. And if he helps Villa past Bruges, Rogers will face the biggest game of his career – a Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain. Everything we have seen so far suggests Rogers would rise to the challenge.