Morgan Rogers has now revealed how Aston Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey helped him seal his move from Middlesbrough in the January transfer window.
Rogers has become one of the finest young players in the Premier League since completing his £15 million transfer in January.
The 22-year-old continues to perform out of his skin for Aston Villa – including in their latest match – as Villa came from 2-0 behind to secure a 3-2 win.
Rogers has received plenty of plaudits for his displays this term, with Jamie Redknapp lauding Rogers as ‘unplayable’ in the defeat against Arsenal while Tim Sherwood believes he’s an £80 million player.
Cementing his place in the starting XI under Unai Emery as an attacking midfielder, the former Manchester City player has since opened up on how his move to Villa Park happened.
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How Jacob Ramsey helped seal Morgan Rogers transfer to Aston Villa
Speaking on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Rogers claims that a move to Villa ‘came out of nowhere’ but a phone call with Jacob Ramsey after their FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough was integral in securing a transfer.
Ramsey – who has previously played with Rogers at England under-21 level – told him that Villa wanted to get in contact with his agent and the rest, as they say, is history.
“It was out of nowhere, I’ll be honest,” Rogers said. “We played them in the FA Cup; Jacob Ramsey who I was good friends with before phoned me after the game just asking me weird questions and I was a bit confused as to what was going on.
“It was the last thing on my mind, I was kind of thinking, where’s he going with this on the phone and then when he said ‘Villa want to get in contact with your agent’. I still thought, okay they might be just saying some stuff that they like me and whatnot but we’ll see for the future maybe.
“And then, the days went on, the realer it started to get, the more excited I started to get but at the same time I thought, I’m still a Middlesbrough player. I love it here, like I loved Middlesbrough, loved everything about it; the players, the manager.
“I was still playing games in the midst of it and it was probably my best football but when it started getting realer and realer, I couldn’t help being excited because there were doing so well in the Premier League, they’re such a big club, the manager coming back home, everything just felt right but at the same time I had a job to do at Middlesbrough.”
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Morgan Rogers is a bargain for £15 million
Many questioned Villa paying £15 million for a Championship player who was unproven in the Premier League.
But Emery – the man who brought him to the club – has used that criticism as fuel to turn Rogers into a different beast on the pitch.
The Englishman is unstoppable when in full flow and there’s no wonder Emery was annoyed that Rogers was called up to the England under-21s as opposed to the senior side.
Nonetheless, paying just £15m for a player who could easily command a sum close to quadruple that amount now speaks volumes about his talent.
Hopefully, Rogers can start to add goals and assists to his game which would give him every chance of making the England squad; a dream every young English player wants to fulfil.
