How Rogers stepped up in Aston Villa’s top-four charge

 

Fairly or not, eyebrows were raised when Aston Villa bought Morgan Rogers in January for £8 million (rising to £16 million) off Middlesbrough—just six months after Boro had paid a measly £1 million to grab him off Manchester City. 

 

Such an immediate hike in value can be justified if a player sets the world alight, but the prevailing vein of thought from the north east was that he had not. Rogers was not considered an automatic starter; around half of his 26 league appearances came from the bench and he only scored 2 Championship goals. His Carabao Cup form was brilliant—5 goals and 2 assists in 451 minutes—but was dismissed to an extent due to the nature of the opposition. 

 

This did not deter Villa and Unai Emery, though, and it’s hardly 20/20 hindsight to realise why: When you see a 21-year-old who, no matter how unpolished, can run with the ball like Rogers does, you pay the money and save the questions for later. 

 

In an increasingly physically demanding sport—top-level football is, first and foremost, a stage on which elite athletes play—having a player who can take a ball and just run, run and run some more, cleaving through opposing lines and swatting away attempted tacklers, is worth a lot. 

 

That’s what Rogers does: He receives the ball, turns, and runs—and no one can stop him. Not unless they grab his shirt or chop him down. It’s magnificent to watch and evokes memories of some of the Premier League’s finest, striding through midfield powerfully and flipping a game on its head. 

 

It’s important to acknowledge he’s only played 614 Premier League minutes, so the sample size is small, but Rogers is already completing more dribbles per game (1.7) than any other Villa player. He’s also embarked on a whopping 22 progressive carries (10 yards or more up the pitch) in just seven league starts. 

 

This is a trait Emery values in his midfielders and forwards; Leon Bailey, Moussa Diaby, Jacob Ramsey and Nicolo Zaniolo can all drive with the ball and transition Villa from defence to attack quickly. The difference with Rogers is that his runs just keep going: 20, 30, 40 yards, carrying under extreme pressure at times. He proved vital in beating Arsenal and AFC Bournemouth’s press in April and flashed moments against Chelsea, too. 

 

He is in the XI to provide that function. The goals have started to flow—his cute strike on Saturday was his 3rd in the Premier League so far—but to a team that already scored plenty, that’s a bonus. The true value of Rogers is that, amongst some pretty worn out colleagues who will eclipse the 4,000-minute mark this term, Rogers is young, fresh and can single-handedly take them from their box to the opposition’s in about five seconds. 

 

What comes after the dribble still needs work. Specifically, he needs to learn to release the ball earlier, he needs to finesse his passing at the end of his runs, and he occasionally hits a square pass so wrong it goes in completely the wrong direction and no one can really explain how it happened. 

 

But even for a 21 year old, Rogers is extremely inexperienced. He has all the time in the world to smooth those rough edges and will undoubtedly do so under an exceptional collection of coaches at Villa. Given the impact already made, the first £8 million looks a bargain; given the potential he’s flashing, he could end up making a mockery of the eventual £16 million cost too.


How Rogers stepped up in Aston Villa’s top-four charge