When Aston Villa signed Morgan Rogers from Middlesbrough during the January transfer window eight months ago, eyebrows were raised by many. Boro fans were vocal online in their opinion that having received a fee of £8 million, thought to be rising to £15 million, they had made a great deal to let go of a player not worth that much money. However, Rogers has silenced any critics and doubters with his sensational performances for Villa in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.
One Sky Sports pundit that was openly honest about his opinion on the transfer was former Wolves and West Brom player Don Goodman. Unai Emery signed Rogers from Championship side Middlesborough after watching him play against Villa in the FA Cup in January. Emery quickly made it known to Monchi that he wanted to sign the West Brom academy graduate before the transfer window ended.
""I was surprised Aston Villa went for him and I was surprised by the figure. I have no doubt that Morgan Rogers has enormous potential, but that’s all it is at the moment.""Don Goodman (speaking in February)
Goodman questioned the timing of the move and believed that Rogers would have very limited opportunities to play in a Villa side pushing to qualify for European competitions. Indeed, Rogers did have a slow and tough start to life at Villa in his first few games. While trying to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League Rogers struggled to make an impact in his first half a dozen games which came from the bench.
Getting to grips with the Premier League
However, another injury picked up by Jacob Ramsey to effectively bring his season to an end in February provided the chance for Rogers to be named in the starting XI. He quickly got to grips with the Premier League and started to show glimpses of his quality, whilst scoring some crucial goals that went a long way to helping Villa qualify for the Champions League.
And now following a good pre-season, Rogers has taken his game to another level and has been described as the most exciting player in the Premier League. Compared to New Zealand rugby legend Jonah Lomu by Jamie Redknapp, his bulldozing ball carrying through the midfield and into the attack has been a joy to watch, unless you are an opposing defender. Likened to football legends such as Paul Gascoigne as a 'throwback footballer' he has developed his game incredibly quickly under one of the world's best football managers, Unai Emery.
As a result of his impressive form, Goodman has performed a U-turn on the comments made at the time of Rogers's move to the Villans:
""I’ll hold my hands up – he’s done way better than I anticipated and played way more than I anticipated. He glides across the ground and has the ability to beat his man, which is invaluable in modern football because it opens up spaces. When you have a ball-carrying midfielder that gets past people, things start to happen.”"
How has Rogers improved so quickly?
During an interview with Morgan Rogers's father prior to kick-off on Tuesday night, he revealed that his son was being 'played in the correct position' and that is why he is performing so incredibly. Whilst in the Championship, Rogers would often play as the lead striker or from the left-hand side. When he moved to Villa, he took up that role on the left-hand side vacated by the injured Ramsey but in an Unai Emery system he had the freedom to drift wide, cut inside and roam to search for the ball.
This season has seen a change in his position and he is now playing as a No.10. Primarily playing down the middle of the pitch, Rogers is often picking the ball up centrally and driving at the heart of the opposition defence to create goal-scoring opportunities. Although he is yet to register a goal or an assist this season, he has without doubt been one of Villa's stand-out players in an excellent start to the campaign.
Unai Emery is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in world football and his list of honours and achievements across Europe support that argument. He is also extremely competent at improving the players at his disposal and recognising and developing young talent. He was aware of what Rogers could do and saw enough of him in the Championship to pay the cash and bring him to Villa Park. After 8 months of work with the 22-year-old, he has dramatically improved both his tactical and technical knowledge of the game. Emery has called for Rogers to be selected for the England national team and no doubt a call-up won't be too far away if he continues to perform so well.
Rogers will be hoping that this weekend's game at home to Wolves, who have won fewer games and earned fewer points than anyone else in the Premier League since the start of March, represents the perfect opportunity to register his first goal contribution of the season.
UTV