Morgan Rogers responds to Cole Palmer’s message amid Chelsea transfer rumours
Morgan Rogers has responded to a new message from Cole Palmer amid rumours that the Villa winger could be joining his close friend at Chelsea this summer.
Rogers only joined Villa from Middlesbrough for an initial £8million [BBC] in February last year, but his rise to stardom since then has been a notable one, and he is now a full England international.
The 22-year-old winger has established himself as one of Unai Emery’s key players, and interest in his signature has been rife this summer after Football Insider revealed in May that Villa will do everything they can to keep hold of Rogers amid interest from Chelsea.
Former scout Mick Brown told Football Insider in June that Arsenal are keeping a close eye on Rogers’ situation, but Unai Emery is desperate to keep hold of the England winger this summer, as revealed by Football Insider on 8 July.
It is believed to be a near certainty that Chelsea will bid to sign Rogers if Villa approach them over a deal to sign Nicolas Jackson, while The Sun have reported that Rogers is the Blues’ top target right now, and he has responded to a message from Palmer in the face of those links.
Cole Palmer visits St. Kitts and Nevis
Palmer’s Club World Cup heroics saw him bag a brace to seal victory for Chelsea in the final against PSG, and he has stayed busy in his time off before returning to pre-season training soon.
The England star recently visited the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, which is where his grandfather was born and raised, and shared a post to his Instagram page on Thursday (17 July) to commemorate the visit, with numerous pictures of him taking in the culture alongside the caption: “Motherland” with an emoji of the country’s flag.
Palmer and Rogers are close friends from their time at Man City together, and the latter moved to like former’s post amid rumours of potentially joining him at Chelsea soon, while Wayne Rooney, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo were among those that also left a like.
Aston Villa to sanction Rogers sale for financial reasons
Football Insider verdict
Villa need to make sales this summer after they missed out on a spot in the Champions League last season on goal difference following a controversial final-day decision in their game against Man United when Rogers was deemed to have fouled Altay Bayindir before scoring.
In a cruel twist of fate for the Second City outfit, it could well be the 22-year-old who is let go in the coming months after football finance expert Dan Plumley told Football Insider on Friday (11 July) that the Villans will be forced to cash in on at least one or two players to try and avoid further sanctions from UEFA this summer.
| Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| 70 | 17 | 16 |
Villa were hit with a fine of €11million (£9.5m) by the governing body in early July due to a squad cost ratio issue, and they could receive a further €15m (£13m) in fines over the next three years if they continue to fail to comply with UEFA’s financial regulations.
According to the Mail, Villa have set an asking price of £100 million for Rogers, and if anything close to that was met by an interested club like Chelsea, it would obviously massively ease their financial concerns, and so an exit could happen soon.