Exclusive: Morgan Rogers Has World at his Feet, says ex-Villa Midfielder

Former Aston Villa midfielder Garry Thompson believes the sky is the limit for bright spark Morgan Rogers.

Rogers started his career in the midlands as he came through the ranks at West Brom before making the move to Manchester City in 2019, having starred during their FA Youth Cup semi-final clash, and that time at the Etihad rubbed off on impressionable Rogers.

He moved to Championship club Middlesbrough in the summer of 2023, where he went under the wing of five-time Premier League winner Michael Carrick. 

But he was only there for half the season before being snapped up for a bargain £8million, potentially rising to £15million, by Unai Emery earlier this year, ahe has not looked out of place in the Premier League or Champions League this term, scoring four times in the top flight, and was awarded with an England debut in last month’s victory in Greece.

“It’s a small body of work, but we signed a kid Morgan Rogers from Middlesbrough last summer and he’s phenomenal,” Thompson, who played for the club in the 80s, told SportsBoom.com. 

“I watched him at Middlesbrough a couple of times and he looked like he had a bit about him. I think it was against Luton, he went past three players and almost scored and you say ‘hello’. He plays a few games here and there and finishes the season quite well."

“He starts the season this season and he’s been absolutely superb for Aston Villa. The future’s really bright for him.”

“He said when he first came to the club that Unai was on him saying ‘you’re a Championship player, but I want you to be better’.”

Rogers Will Want More

Rogers, who has committed his future to Villa until 2030, came off the bench as England avenged their Wembley defeat in Athens before making another substitute appearance during the 5-0 thumping of the Republic of Ireland as Lee Carsley’s side got promoted to League A in the Nations League.

Now he has to impress incoming Three Lions’ boss Thomas Tuchel, who takes the reigns on New Year’s Day and Thompson — capped at U21 level — believes his brief stint with the national side will have made him hungry for more.

“He started this season so well that when the first England squad came around I thought he was an outside bet to get in,” reflected Thompson. “Not play, but to get involved the squad.”

“He doesn’t get picked in the first two squads, but then all of a sudden he’s picked because players pulled out. He’s thoroughly deserved his opportunity. He came on against Greece when England needed a ball carrier to get them up the pitch and he carried the ball and got a taste for it.”

“For the Morgan Rogers we see on the park for Villa, this will give him a taste and he’ll want a bit more of it.”

“This kid is strong, quick, great with the ball. The only thing is he maybe needs to brush up on scoring more goals. That will come. He’s 22/23.”

“His development in the last 18 months at Villa has been fantastic. If he’s playing regular he’ll development really quickly. Morgan Rogers is one hell of a prospect.”

Villa Hit And Miss At Present

Rogers and co lock horns with out-of-sorts Manchester City on Saturday as they look to get back to winning ways after defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

They have made a strong start to their Champions League campaign, but are seemingly struggling with the increased demands of qualifying for Europe’s premier competition by going winless through November. 

Villa snapped that sorry streak with a convincing 3-1 home win against Brentford, who have picked up just one point on the road this term, before beating rock-bottom Southampton. 

That was followed by a fine 3-2 victory at RB Leipzig, thanks to Ross Barkley’s 85th-minute winner, but then they fell flat once again on return to Premier League action at the City Ground. 

With the Premier League their sole focus over the Christmas break, Villa will be hopeful they can extend Pep Guadiola’s misery and string a run together.