Aston Villa looking for 'special player' to replace Morgan Rogers as inside process revealed

Aston Villa will preparing for the potential exit of Morgan Rogers this summer amid huge interest in the midfielder, according to a well-placed expert.

Premier League champions Arsenal are considering an initial bid for the 23-year-old, who has emerged among the most exciting young players in Europe.

Decision-makers are determined to stick to their asking price of at least £100million, however.

Former Villa scout Bryan King exclusively told Football Insider that the process to find a potential replacement for Rogers will already be well underway.

Unai Emery's team won the Europa League last month and will have Champions League football next season, widening the base for prospective signings.

Their preference will be to keep the England international at Villa Park, however, with his contract set to run until 2031.

Bryan King offers Morgan Rogers replacement insight

When Villa signed Rogers, the youngster was enjoying a strong Championship campaign and had dominated in Middlesbrough's Carabao Cup run.

Not many would have expected the way he has developed since making the switch to the Premier League, however.

Should he leave and make Villa a profit that could reach towards £80m, they will hope to repeat the trick this summer.

"I worked 30 odd years as a scout for three Premier League clubs and there are three things we say in football, or certainly my era said, there are three things that are important at a football club," King told Football Insider.

"One is recruitment, two is recruitment, and three is recruitment. Now, you get that right, you're going to win things. If you get it wrong, it's going to cost you money and you're probably going to lose money.

"So clubs today are relying more on data, analysis, than they've ever done. In my day, the scout used to go out, you'd find a player, you'd report back and say the player, then your analysts or your people who work on the computers  would then find out as much information as you can on that player.

"I would imagine it's no different today, It's a bit more technical today, that's for sure. But at the end, you're looking for that special player. You're looking for a good young player.

"And teams like Bournemouth and Brighton have done very well in the past at picking up younger players from abroad. Now, that comes from hard work. And it'll be no different in Villa."

Aston Villa links tell story of early scouting

Villa have already been linked to two potential players who could potentially fill a hole left by Rogers this summer.

Abde Ezzalzouli, 24, is an exciting left-winger who looks set to leave Real Betis this summer after a season that saw him net 15 goals and provide 10 assists across all competitions.

23-year-old Croatia international Martin Baturina is another reportedly on the watchlist, after he enjoyed a positive first season for Como.

The talent scored against England at the World Cup last week, in a moment that may well have been watched by Villa scouts.