Morgan Rogers to Chelsea: What does the arrival of the England forward mean for the Blues squad? | Football News

Morgan Rogers is set to join Chelsea in a British-record £117m from Aston Villa – and his arrival is set to have a knock-on effect for Xabi Alonso’s Blues.

The England international – who arrived for his medical on Monday after returning from the World Cup – had also been linked with Arsenal, but he is set to arrive in the west of London instead.

Here, Sky Sports News reporters Kaveh Solhekol and James Savundra examine why Rogers is keen on the move and what the forward’s imminent arrival could mean for the rest of the Chelsea squad.

Why Rogers and Chelsea wanted each other

KS: Some people may be surprised that Rogers has decided to swap Aston Villa for Chelsea, but the player really did have his heart set on moving to Stamford Bridge and once the bid materialised, he accepted it straight away.

Playing for Chelsea next season means he will not be playing in Europe. If he had stayed at Aston Villa, he would have been playing in the Champions League, but Chelsea are still a big club.

They have big ambitions and under their new manager Alonso, they are very serious about challenging for the big trophies again.

Rogers is obviously a fantastic player, we’ve all seen that, but he is also very physically imposing. There’s been a feeling at Chelsea that one thing their side has been missing is some real physical presence and they’ve been trying to address that this summer. They’ve gone some way towards it by signing a player like Rogers.

How might Cole Palmer be impacted?

KS: I remember being at the game between Aston Villa and Chelsea last season and that was billed as being a game between Cole Palmer and Rogers – who was the better No 10? I think on the day, Aston Villa ended up winning that game and Rogers played really well.

So you have to ask the question – will Chelsea be able to have both Rogers and Palmer in the same side? The two players know each other well. They were together at Manchester City and Palmer’s famous ‘cold’ goal celebration was first invented by Rogers. It’ll be up to Alonso to see how he can accommodate both those players in the same side.

There are no indications that Chelsea want to sell Palmer, far from it. He’s tied down to a very long contract and just before the end of the season, he gave a newspaper interview in which he said he was happy at Chelsea and was happy living in London.

There have been reports seeming to suggest that he may want to move back to the north west, that one day he wants to play for Manchester United, but I think he would cost so much that there are not many clubs who would be able to buy Palmer if Chelsea wanted to sell him.

What is the situation for Enzo Fernandez?

KS: Enzo Fernandez has come out on a few occasions and made it clear that he fancies a move to Real Madrid, but we had some sort of clarity on that a couple of weeks ago when the LaLiga club released a statement saying that they were not involved in any negotiations.

They had not made a move to sign Fernandez and if they did want to sign him, then they would do everything through the proper channels. Real Madrid have a very good relationship at the highest level with Chelsea, so I’m sure if they were interested in signing Fernandez, it would simply be a matter of picking up the phone.

I think what Chelsea would tell them is every player has his price and Fernandez’s price is £120m. If you want him, that is what it’s going to take to buy him. But as of yet, Real Madrid have not made a move for him to our understanding.

JS: Fernandez’s position remains largely unchanged despite the arrival of Rogers. Alonso confirmed his intention to keep the Argentine at his unveiling last week and noted to Sky Sports News that he was looking forward to working with the midfielder.

Having committed more than £100m to buy Fernandez in 2023, Chelsea would be looking to recoup at least a similar level of money to sanction a sale.

Real Madrid have ruled themselves out of the running to signing Fernandez – for now – which leaves few viable suitors.

The Argentine enjoyed success under Enzo Maresca, but is a move to Man City likely in a window in which City have spent £116m already on Elliot Anderson and given the tension between the clubs given the Maresca saga?

How might Rogers fit into Alonso’s system?

JS: Alonso refused to give any clues last week when it came to his playing system. His main success as a manager at Bayer Leverkusen saw Jeremie Frimpong and Alex Grimaldo dominate as wing-backs. If he adopts his preferred formation at Chelsea, Rogers is most likely to operate as a wide attacking midfielder.

Given the struggles of Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens last season and the presence of Palmer, you would expect Rogers to be favoured on the left.

There are real similarities between the positions picked up by Palmer, Rogers and to some extent Joao Pedro. Whilst the trio thrive in fluid positions rather than a strictly fixed structure, Alonso will need to lay out a clear framework with specific roles.

Are Chelsea sales required?

JS: Chelsea are Club World Cup champions. They have not always been world class on the pitch during the BlueCo era but they have been world-class sellers.

They have already ensured enough outgoings this summer to cover the £117m cost of Rogers. Chelsea raised around £130m from selling players like Marc Cucurella, Andrey Santos and Tyrique George and the sizeable compensation from Man City for poaching Maresca certainly helped too.

The likes of Reece James, Palmer and Joao Pedro are seen as untouchable assets, but other members of the first team squad will depart for sizeable fees – Garnacho, Nicolas Jackson and Trevoh Chalobah are likely to bring in another £100m if they go.

Despite not being in Europe this season, Chelsea will still be subjected to UEFA’s stricter financial rules. Last summer, Chelsea entered into a four year settlement agreement with UEFA for breaching regulations and they’ll look to demonstrate progress in showcasing financial sustainability following this window.

Chelsea brought in around £300m from player sales last summer and given the need to move on a number of defenders who are surplus to requirements and at least one striker, it could be another impressive summer of trading.

Where does this deal leave Arsenal?

KS: It’s a long transfer window… but I’m not sure Arsenal would have been prepared to pay £117m for him.

Perhaps you could argue that Chelsea need him more at the moment – Arsenal are the reigning champions and they are in the Champions League as well.

A lot of these deals only happen when somebody puts their money where their mouth is. We can talk about the fact that Arsenal were potentially interested in Rogers, but it’s Chelsea who made a bid and that has been accepted by Aston Villa.