Arsenal refused to overpay to sign Morgan Rogers, thus allowing Chelsea to strike a deal for the Aston Villa star.
The England international has been Mikel Arteta’s top target for many months now, but he is now set to miss out on him.
One of the reasons behind the withdrawal of interest, according to Fabrizio Romano, is that Arsenal were not willing to pay more than £100 million for Rogers.
Josh Kroenke’s past comments on such deals may explain why.
Who should Arsenal sign now after missing out on Morgan Rogers to Chelsea?
Josh Kroenke may have already explained why Arsenal did not sign Morgan Rogers
The Kroenkes have often been criticised by Arsenal fans for not spending enough money, but that has changed since Stan’s son, Josh, started to call the shots.
The Gunners have invested heavily in transfers over the last few years, and that definitely played a part in helping them win the Premier League title.
The Kroenkes’ biggest expenditure was the signing of Declan Rice in a club-record £105 million deal in the summer of 2023.
When that was presented to the younger Kroenke, he wanted a few questions answered before he sanctioned the move.
“My eyebrows raised because I didn’t know if we were in that phase just yet to go after a player like that,” he told Sky Sports after Arsenal won the Premier League.
“So, I asked Mikel a couple of pointed questions about how we might use him, which is something I never really ever do.
“My main question centred around, ‘If we are going to be spending this much, tell me how we’re going to use him.’ Because this should be what I refer to as ‘plug and play’.
“He should fit right into the starting XI and hit the ground running. But also, if we are going to be paying this much, what’s the person we are getting? Because this better be a leader as well.”
Fill the blanks: The year is 2030 and Declan Rice is now worth £____.
Coming to the present, we’re sure Kroenke asked the same questions when Morgan Rogers’ £117 million price tag was put in front of him.
Will he hit the ground running? Is he a leader? Will he have the same impact that Declan Rice has had over the last three years at the club?
The answer to all of the above questions was probably a big no, and we think that is why Kroenke, the Arsenal board and Berta all decided to withdraw their interest in the player.
After the initial frustration of missing out on Rogers, we think Arsenal were probably right to walk away from the deal.
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