Chelsea make “wonderful” £78m star their top target

While it’s all gone quiet on the pitch for Chelsea, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll continue to be busy in the transfer market.

It’s now almost a week since the Blues were crowned champions of the world, to the surprise of many, demolishing Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the Club World Cup Final last Sunday, with Cole Palmer scoring twice at MetLife Stadium.

Enzo Maresca’s side won’t be seen again until they welcome Bayer Leverkusen and then AC Milan to Stamford Bridge for pre-season friendlies on 8 and 10 August respectively, just a week before the start of the Premier League season, but how many new players will they have to unveil by then?

Chelsea’s search for more attacking talent

As we’ve come to expect during the Todd Boehly era, Chelsea have made plenty of signings this summer already, as the table below documents.

Following the arrivals of Estêvão Willian, Jamie Gittens, and Kendry Páez, to add to existing squad members Pedro Neto, Palmer, Christopher Nkunku, Raheem Sterling, Tyrique George, and João Félix, fair to say Maresca has plenty of wide attacking options.

Nevertheless, that has not stopped Chelsea continuing to recruit in the past, and, after Noni Madueke was sold to Arsenal for £52m this week, it would shock no one if they reinvested that money back into the squad.

Thus, according to reports in Spain, Chelsea are preparing to make a move for Morgan Rogers, making the Aston Villa midfielder, who is valued at around £78m, their number one priority.

They add that the Villans’ ‘reluctance to negotiate’ could prove a stumbling block although, speaking on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast, Dan Bardell stated that he expects Villa will need to sell a ‘big player’ this summer to comply with the Premier League’s Profitability & Sustainability Rules, so could this see Rogers move to Chelsea?

How Morgan Rogers would improve Chelsea

Rogers only joined Aston Villa from Middlesbrough for £15m as recently as January 2024, but has certainly burst onto the scene in the Midlands.

Last season, the 22-year-old scored 14 goals and registered 13 assists across all competitions, with former England manager Glenn Hoddle labelling him “wonderful” and “excellent” following his maiden international start against Latvia at Wembley in March.

Kurosh Moghtader of Total Football Analysis asserts that he is a ‘superb talent’ who operates best as an attacking midfielder.

Meantime, Ryan Benson of Opta’s the Analyst, believes he was amongst the ‘standout players’ in the Premier League last season, adding that his ‘ominous bursts and tidy footwork’ make him ‘a joy to watch’, describing him as robust yet graceful, like a raging bull on ice skates.

But how does he compare to the departing Madueke?

Let’s find out.

As the table below outlines, it is Rogers who comes out on top for the vast majority of attacking statistics, which suggests that he would be a huge upgrade for Chelsea at the top end of the pitch.

The Aston Villa star racked up a staggering 4,753 minutes for club and country, featuring in all but one of the club’s Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup fixtures, which is testament to his durability.

Nevertheless, even on a per-90 basis, when compared to Madueke, Rogers boasted better numbers in terms of chances created and dribbles, so he would surely be an excellent addition for Chelsea, even if a very expensive one.