Set to sign
No.10 or left winger? How Morgan Rogers will fit into Chelsea’s starting XI this season
©IMAGO
Chelsea are set to break records with the signing of Aston Villa attacking midfielder Morgan Rogers. According to numerous reports, the Stamford Bridge club will pay no less than €137.6 million for the England international, making Rogers the club’s most expensive signing of all time and around €16m more than the fee paid for Enzo Fernández in 2023. Rogers will also become the most expensive midfielder in Premier League history, overtaking the €135m Manchester City paid for Elliot Anderson earlier in the month.
| Rumour | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
M. Rogers |  |
|||||
| Attacking Midfield | |||||||
|
As the fee would suggest, Rogers has gone from strength to strength at Villa over the course of the last two years, following his €9.4m move from Middlesbrough. In that time, the 23-year-old talent has bagged an impressive 31 goals and 29 assists in 125 games across all competitions for the Villa Park side. As such, Rogers was reportedly a transfer target for Arsenal before Chelsea swooped in for an offer that his club simply couldn’t refuse. But how exactly will Rogers fit into Xabi Alonso’s team for next season? Let’s take a look.
Rogers and Palmer as inside No.10s
Considering Alonso’s preference for a back three and two wing-backs, Chelsea’s starting XI for the forthcoming season may task Rogers with playing centrally as an attacking midfielder. That would be good news for the England international, considering he’s played there on 82 occasions in his career and picked up a very impressive 23 goals and 18 assists along the way. As we can see in the starting XI graphic above, should Alonso opt for a back three system, Rogers would be tasked with playing alongside Cole Palmer in a central role, ahead of Fernández and Moises Caicedo, while primarily providing chances for João Pedro in attack.
Rogers on the left, Palmer through the middle
However, there’s no particular reason why a tactician of Alonso’s talent couldn’t work with a more traditional back four at Chelsea. In fact, he’s already shown in some preliminary pre-season friendlies a preference for a four at the back as opposed to a system that uses wing-backs. In that case, Rogers would almost certainly be asked to take up a role on the left wing. This would then allow Palmer to play as the sole No.10 in the middle of the pitch and for Chelsea to start young winger Estêvão on the right flank. This, undoubtedly, wouldn’t be a tall order for the departing Villa star. Over the course of his career, Rogers has played on the left wing 106 times – more than twice as often as he’s played on the right wing – and bagged 29 goals and 14 assists along the way.
Note:When you search for something on Google, you’ll see a box with the latest news alongside the usual results. If you set Transfermarkt as your preferred source, our content will appear there more often.Add Transfermarkt as your preferred source here.
Homepage
Report
error
