After an impressive first few months at Aston Villa, expectation and hopes are high over how big an impact Morgan Rogers can make for us moving forward.
As per BBC Sport, Villa signed the 21-year-old from Middlesbrough in January in a deal worth an initial £8m, which could rise to £15m if various add-ons are triggered.
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It’s also noted in that report that Villa had three bids rejected before eventually reaching an agreement, and Unai Emery was delighted to have finally landed his signature as he had evidently seen something that he liked in the forward to convince him that he would be an effective fit for our style and structure.
“We are motivated and excited to work with [Rogers] and hopefully he can progress here like we think he will do,” Emery noted on the youngster’s arrival.
In 16 appearances for Villa last season, 12 of which were starts, Rogers bagged three goals and an assist, while he had a 78 percent pass completion rate, 50 percent shooting accuracy and he won 60 tackles in those outings too as he added a key defensive presence in advanced areas.
Injuries elsewhere in the squad did open doors for him to get more opportunities than Emery perhaps was initially planning to give him so early after his arrival, but Rogers was hugely impressive in the way he adapted, learned quickly and executed what the Villa boss demanded from him in both phases of the game.
That aspect was arguably more impressive than the goal involvements, as although those were decisive moments in games and were pivotal to how we ended the season, his ability to fit into our style of play, system and structure with relative ease and such speed, all suggested that he has a high level of understanding, adaptability and attributes that will allow him to establish himself as a long-term solution for Emery.
As noted above, having made 12 starts, it was clear that he had earned Emery’s trust in giving him that responsibility to feature so prominently so quickly.
It’s testament to the Spanish tactician and his recruitment team too, as while some perhaps raised eyebrows over our protracted pursuit of Rogers and the fee involved for a young player untested at the top level, the club obviously saw something in his play that made him stand out as an excellent investment to become a key piece in our squad.
Unfortunately, our rotten injury luck impacted him towards the end of the campaign as well as he missed our last two league games. Further, with Emiliano Buendia and Jacob Ramsey back from injury next season, the talented youngster will face stiffer competition for a starting berth.
That said, with Champions League football to look forward to as we prepare for what will undoubtedly be another gruelling season, he’ll certainly get chances to cement his place in the Villa XI, and it’s hoped that he can build chemistry and devastating partnerships with those two and the rest of the frontline to continue to prove to be another astute move from Emery and Villa in the transfer market.