Morgan Rogers tipped to make sensational £80m transfer move to Premier League powerhouse as Aston Villa legend thinks even Man Utd could tempt England star despite enduring another terrible season

Rogers has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence since first being acquired by Manchester City in 2019. He was playing League One football on loan at Lincoln in 2020-21, but made his senior England bow in November 2024 and is now hoping to make Thomas Tuchel’s plans for this summer’s World Cup.

The talented 23-year-old appears destined to get that call, as he competes with Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham for the right to fill a No.10 berth with the Three Lions, and continues to see his stock soar at club level. A move from Middlesbrough to Villa which could be worth £15m ($20m) was completed in February 2024.

Morgan has illuminated Premier League and Champions League stages since then, leading to inevitable exit talk being generated. He is now tied to a contract at Villa through to 2031, but those terms are merely protecting a prized asset and keeping his asking price high.

Collymore concedes that a big-money sale could be sanctioned. Speaking to GOAL via BetWright betting, the ex-Villans frontman said when asked if Rogers is destined to join Real Madrid, Chelsea or City: “I worry as a Villa fan that when an opportunity has arisen for him to go, he goes. He’s had a couple of loan moves when he was at Manchester City. He then decided to go and play in the Championship. A lot of players now will hang around like a bad smell in the hope that they get on the bench at a Premier League club, training with the squad, and that they will get in at some point. He didn’t, he decided to go into the Championship and plough his own furrow. Villa took him and he’s been nothing short of sensational.

“In terms of the World Cup squad, I still don’t think he’ll start ahead of Jude Bellingham but I do think he will be pushing for a start at the World Cup. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he has big parts to play in games and wouldn't be at all surprised if Villa are fielding offers of 70, 80, plus add-ons, plus players going the other way because Villa obviously need players because of PSR compliance. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is one of the big summer targets.

“The reasons why are very simple. You have to look at the moment, Villa need bodies in midfield, they made an offer to Atletico Madrid for Conor Gallagher. Everything was agreed and Spurs came in at the last minute and said we can give him another two-and-a-half years on top of what Villa were offering and give you more money. Therein lies the problem, in PSR.”

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Collymore added on where the powerful playmaker could end up and why: “Morgan Rogers will look at the situation and say at the end of the season - I saw an interview with him a few days ago and it was top four or FA Cup? He said ‘FA Cup because I want to win a trophy, I haven’t won one yet’. I think he is very much an old school player that will go where he feels that he will get the best chance to win trophies.

“If all of a sudden PSR changes in the summer, Villa can spend whatever they like and they are playing Champions League football - which at the moment is looking likely-ish, although I do think they can be reeled in by Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs because the bodies that they have got - if they were to get in the top four and win the FA Cup, then he could say ‘there is nothing really to go for, I have won a trophy at a progressive club, with a manager that loves me, I’m top man’. Maybe he could be given the captaincy, something like that.

“If they get into the top four and Villa don’t win the cup, which is as likely as not, I think there will be three or four of the big boys that will be hovering around and would think nothing of paying 75-80 million and give you a couple of Chelsea rejects, Liverpool rejects, Man United rejects.

“Villa, firstly have a track record - you’ve seen what they have done with Victor Lindelof - of making those kind of players better. Those kind of clubs would be happy to get them off the wage sheet and you can mess around with PSR by doing so.

“I think Morgan Rogers is ambitious enough to want to go to a Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United. I think it would be only those three clubs. I don’t see Liverpool needing that kind of upgrade at the moment. I could certainly see a Manchester City, where of course he started, a Manchester United, that are always spending money, Arsenal even - alongside a Declan Rice, that would be pretty awesome if they were champions - and a Chelsea that always seem to have the money to spend. I could see it happening.

“But in terms of him starting games at the World Cup, like with Morgan Gibbs-White if he were to get into the squad, I think Jude Bellingham is No.1 pick and England would need to have two or three poor games at the World Cup for anybody else to start alongside Declan Rice.”

Rogers has taken in 99 appearances for Villa, scoring 25 goals along the way. He is up to 12 caps for England, with the target being found for the first time at international level against Wales, and has already generated speculation regarding supposed interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea.