Morgan Rogers has gone from strength to strength in Aston Villa colours in 2024.
Only 12 months ago, the 22-year-old was preparing to play in England’s second tier with Middlesbrough under Michael Carrick.
Then Aston Villa came swooping in during the January transfer window to sign Rogers as they pushed to join the elite of Europe.
By the end of that campaign, Rogers had helped Villa into the Champions League and played an important role.
As you can imagine, the plaudits have been coming in left, right and centre for the attacking midfielder.
He has deserved many of them because his rise and learning period over a short period of time has been pretty remarkable.
There was a reason why Rogers was on the books of Manchester City and now he is showing it under the stewardship of Unai Emery.
There have even been calls for Rogers to represent England’s senior side, but that call alludes him, at this moment in time, and there is a reason why.
Rogers proved that during Aston Villa’s drab goalless draw against Manchester United on Sunday, where he played the entire game and the home team dropped valuable points.
It was a frustrating game for the player and, as Clinton Morrison alluded to, he is having ‘too many touches’ when driving forward with the ball, as he told BBC Sport.
It’s all good displaying this outstanding ball-carrying ability, but if there is no brains behind it all, then you might as well leave the ball behind.
Morgan Rogers’ poor final ball delivery for Aston Villa
“Rogers is having too many touches when he goes forward,” said Morrison. “He needs to get his head up and pass the ball quicker.”
Morgan Rogers’ numbers
It wasn’t so long ago that Rogers was tearing Arsenal apart, but he finished that game with zero goals and zero assists.
In only two games this season – Wolves at home and Ipswich Town away – has the ball-carrying expert contributed to a goal or an assist.
That isn’t a surprise because, after all of Rogers’ fancy play, most of it ends with a poorly weighted pass or him just holding onto the ball for too long.
If he can improve that in these coming months, then he will be earning that England call pretty soon, or else, the likes of Emi Buendia deserve more game time and starts ahead of him.
