Morgan Rogers - f**king off to Chelsea

[Chris_Jephcott]

I dont agree with the mercenary thing at all. He was playing in the Championship a couple of seasons ago. He had no idea how his career would pan out, especially the way it has in such a short space of time. I doubt he thought we was a stepping stone when he moved.

Do you know what Clampy, I don’t know. I think there’s just been too many cases of poorly thought through answers in interviews, comments off the cuff and a few other little warning signs that said maybe, when he came to Villa and started developing, that he thought something “bigger and better” would come along.

Either he needs a lot of medical coaching and they were innocent comments, or they hinted at a desire to move on.

I just suspect that Emery’s coaching played to his strengths. My gut feeling is that he’ll struggle to get the same level of development elsewhere.

I’m not worried… I’m actually excited by this development. Grealish felt like I’d been scooped out with a spoon, but this one is a case of “yeah, that’ll do nicely. Next!”

My only hope is that Arsenal do not come in for Konsa now.

[Goldenballs]

If Arsenal want Konsa I'm sure he'd want to go, it would be a case of them meeting our asking price.

[ChicagoLion]

If Arsenal want Konsa I'm sure he'd want to go, it would be a case of them meeting our asking price.

Exactly

[Dante Lavelli]

Thought I’d do some research to back that up. His greatest successes at Real Socidad appears to be reviving careers that have stalled at bigger clubs (Isak, Kubo, Ødegaard, Merino).

Maybe some Real Madrid/PSG cast offs could be coming our way. Mbaye fitting the profile perfectly.

[ADVILLAFAN]

It's about losing one of your best players, but using the money to strengthen in depth.

Hopefully getting a top young talent like Mbaye on top of a top young talent like Manzambi.

[RamboandBruno]

It seems I'm the only one who thinks Alonso will do well there? His Leverkusen side was brilliant and coached fantastically well.  A genuine example of a title-winning team that was greater than the sum of its parts.  Now, his Madrid stint was bad, and I can only hope his trouble dealing with big egos is repeated at Chelsea, but given their failure to qualify for Europe, I'm fairly sure we'll see a Leverkusen-style resurgence from them this season (unfortunately).

As others have said, Morgan built up trust with our fan base.  We saw the improvement from his first six months, where looked a little lost at times, and how it took time for him to take on Unai's coaching and become the player he became in his second season with us.  He won't get that Chelsea - they'll expect their record signing to perform from the first minute to the last.  He strikes me as mentally strong, but I'd be amazed if he gets to Xmas and there aren't a few noises amongst the fans questioning why they spent the money they did on him.

He had freedom under Unai, to express himself, to take risks, which meant we forgave him when those things didn't come off, even if it left us feeling he'd had an off-day.  Again, I don't see that being the reaction from a fan base that has seen him arrive for a record fee.

I like the kid, and I hope his career goes well for him personally, but I also hope Chelsea remain the batshit club they've been for the last few years (though I do think, unfortunately, that Alonso was a brilliant appointment).

Agree on all counts Smithy. I think the main query about why Rogers wants to go to Chelsea is their lack of CL next season, but Alonso is a great coach and they have a chance to challenge with him, if he can quell the ego’s in a way he couldn’t at Madrid.

Ill miss Rogers, but I always base some assumptions on what my boy thinks as he may be only 16 but he watches a lot more footie than me. He actually said before the end of last season if we were offered 100 mill for Rogers he’d take it, for lots of the reasons espoused on here.
Key for me now, is not selling anymore of the big guns, that means Konsa, Watkins, Martinez, any of them going would really be dismantling the spine of the team, which would be too destabilising. I agree if Arsenal want Konsa he’d probably want to go, but tough Im afraid. 

[olaftab]

I dont agree with the mercenary thing at all. He was playing in the Championship a couple of seasons ago. He had no idea how his career would pan out, especially the way it has in such a short space of time. I doubt he thought we was a stepping stone when he moved.

May be you are right but I go back to one of his Press days for England. When asked about Konsa's performance he said he is surprised that one of the big clubs have not come for him so far.  So that tells me he was doing his stuff for us in order to move on. His choice of chelsea  confirms that. No Champions League but in his head a big club. And there were plenty of other indicators all last season that showed he was in it for himself. 

[Sexual Ealing]

I dont agree with the mercenary thing at all. He was playing in the Championship a couple of seasons ago. He had no idea how his career would pan out, especially the way it has in such a short space of time. I doubt he thought we was a stepping stone when he moved.

May be you are right but I go back to one of his Press days for England. When asked about Konsa's performance he said he is surprised that one of the big clubs have not come for him so far.  So that tells me he was doing his stuff for us in order to move on. His choice of chelsea  confirms that. No Champions League but in his head a big club. And there were plenty of other indicators all last season that showed he was in it for himself. 

This is a description of every single footballer, past and present.

[olaftab]

It seems I'm the only one who thinks Alonso will do well there? His Leverkusen side was brilliant and coached fantastically well.  A genuine example of a title-winning team that was greater than the sum of its parts.  Now, his Madrid stint was bad, and I can only hope his trouble dealing with big egos is repeated at Chelsea, but given their failure to qualify for Europe, I'm fairly sure we'll see a Leverkusen-style resurgence from them this season (unfortunately).

Not sure that Alonso will sail at Chelsea. They are not Leverkusen they are more Real with all their riches and a squad big enough to deliver half a dozen PL standard teams. Plus players full of egos. This is why he failed at Madrid and let's hope same happens again at Chelsea.

[PeterWithesShin]

He chose to leave a side in the CL for a side that finished 10th. That's a bit mercenary.

[Clampy]

No, I dont think he planned it at all. Yeah, he maybe had ambitions  to move on at some point but not this soon. I don't think even he thought in the space of two years he would be starting every game, playing in the Champions League, winning a european trophy and playing in the World Cup. I think you're doing him dis-service because he's buggering off.

[PeterWithesShin]

So Morgan, what first attracted you to the crazy contract at 10th place Chelsea?

[Olneythelonely]

I’ll happily do the money grabbing, shit passing, ball losing tosser a disservice. Is it purely because he’s leaving? Yes. Should I be above this as a 45 year old. Yes. But does that make me pathetic? Again, yes.

[Dante Lavelli]

He chose to leave a side in the CL for a side that finished 10th. That's a bit mercenary.

I suspect we pulled his pants down a bit.  At some point he indicated he wanted to leave so the terms were reluctantly agreed (seemingly “it must be a British record fee”). He expected Arsenal to meet those terms, they fucked about, and Chelsea “swooped”. 

There’s was a tweet - from the telegraph I think - that Nas Sawiris and Eghbali (?) have been negotiating this deal directly so Rogers/the agents might have been kept out of it, to an extent.

[DB]

It's a huge price for him. A great player who came make thing happen but loses the ball a lot and does have big patches of doing f**k all. Obvs I'd rather he stay but I'd take that cash and buy a few more players.
The destination is a strange one though. Chelsea is a Bagshot club, you can easily see Alonso being out of a job by Nov.
All this does show how UEFA rules make it so hard for clubs like us to maintain competing at the top.