Morgan Rogers looks to be on his way to Chelsea but while some are blaming Arsenal for this, it appears Aston Villa also played their part in stalling the deal.
Rogers to Chelsea came as a shock just a few days ago after the Blues agreed to pay around £117m for the England and Villa midfielder.
For Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, it represented a bitter blow in their summer recruitment plans.
Villa were reportedly annoyed with Arsenal for what they saw as delaying tactics.
However, while that might be the case, a fresh claim today has suggested that Villa were also involved in making the deal difficult.
Be honest: Would you have been happy if Arsenal spent £117m on Morgan Rogers?
Aston Villa changed the terms of Morgan Rogers deal after Elliott Anderson transfer
Seeing Rogers turn out for Chelsea next season may well sting for Arsenal fans.
But while there’ll be some annoyance among the Gunners fan base over missing out on this deal, Aston Villa are also responsible for things breaking down.
As reported by the HandOfArsenal account on X, Arsenal had been told a fee in the region of £80-100m would be enough to sign Rogers.
However, when Man City paid over £100m to sign Elliott Anderson, Villa are said to have informed Andrea Berta that things had changed.
How this impacts the rest of the window for Arsenal, remains to be seen.
It’s unknown whether the Gunners have a hard and fast rule when it comes to what they’ll spend on key targets, or whether they just didn’t feel Rogers was worth the money.
With other players like Bradley Barcola also on Arsenal’s radar, Arsenal fans will be keen to see if Berta goes any higher than the fee Chelsea have paid for Rogers.
The concern for Arsenal fans, of course, is that they’ve now missed out on Rogers and Sandro Tonali this summer, while there’s been no movement on Bruno Guimaraes either.
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