Chelsea are targeting Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers as one of their summer signings to bolster their attack.
The 22-year-old has been one of the Premier League season’s revelations, having quickly gone to the next level as a player since signing for Unai Emery’s side in January 2024.
Aston Villa do not want to sell Rogers and view him as a star for the future, but there is now a widespread belief in football circles that profit and sustainability rules (PSR) will force clubs into a “transfer churn”, and make decisions they wouldn’t usually regarding players they would want to keep.
It is why this summer may be an especially active window. Villa face particular pressure in this regard given that their wage bill has been at over 90 per cent of revenue. A Champions League run to the quarter-finals has naturally helped but it now creates a greater urge to get back into the competition next season by finishing among the league’s top five.
Villa’s chances of doing so were hurt by defeat at Manchester City last week after a last-gasp winning goal from Matheus Nunes. The result left Villa three points behind both fifth-placed Chelsea and sixth-placed Nottingham Forest, and Forest have a game in hand, against Brentford on Thursday evening.
Chelsea feel there may be an opportunity to do business with Villa, and anticipate another busy market themselves. One of the issues highlighted for summer plans is a need for more thrust in attack. Rogers would certainly offer that, after a season where he has so far hit 14 goals.
