{"id":18686,"date":"2026-07-18T23:49:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=18686"},"modified":"2026-07-18T23:49:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:49:36","slug":"morgan-rogers-how-chelsea-fc-hijacked-arsenal-and-the-role-xabi-alonso-played","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=18686","title":{"rendered":"Morgan Rogers: How Chelsea FC hijacked Arsenal and the role Xabi Alonso played"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Chelsea<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Morgan Rogers is joining Chelsea from Aston Villa in a transfer shocker this will take some beating this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But this was no impulse buy. Rogers has been a long-time target of Chelsea\u2019s, who identified the midfielder many months ago as a potential signing who could add versatility and quality in the final third.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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There is real belief and confidence behind the scenes that Rogers will continue to grow beyond the player who has been the standout playmaker within an impressive Aston Villa side for the past two and a half seasons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Morgan Rogers<\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Chelsea struck quickly and efficiently<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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And this was no surprise to Villa, who have been in talks with Arsenal but were also aware of Chelsea\u2019s motives for some time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Villa were fully braced for interested parties to accelerate their pursuit once England had been knocked out of the World Cup. Chelsea were quicker off the mark.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Paying no regard to the fact England still had to play Saturday\u2019s third-place play-off against France in Miami, Chelsea contacted Rogers\u2019s representatives and soon agreed personal terms with the player on a contract which would run to 2032 with the possibility of a further year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Xabi Alonso<\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alonso\u2019s plans for Rogers<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The Europa League player of the season has been promised regular starts on the left wing, a position that has been lacking due to Alejandro Garnacho\u2019s struggles and Jamie Gittens\u2019s injury problems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rogers largely played as a No10 for Villa but appreciates that Chelsea\u2019s poster boy – his close friend, England team-mate and celebration twin – Cole Palmer has made that position his own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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A call from Alonso to Rogers was significant in convincing the midfielder to join. Chelsea feel it is no coincidence that two top managers \u2013 Emery with Villa and Thomas Tuchel with England \u2013 have made the 23-year-old an important part of each team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marco Palestra<\/p>\n

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Transfer window panning out as planned<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Intent on adding more proven quality to the squad, Chelsea headed into the transfer window in June confident that among their signings this summer would be at least two starting-level players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In has come the highly-rated \u2013 and highly versatile \u2013 wing-back Marco Palestra from Atlanta, who can expect a prominent first-team role. And now Rogers becomes the second.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Chelsea struck while the iron is hot and believe they have struck gold, beating London rivals and Premier League champions Arsenal to the signing of one of English football\u2019s most exciting players. Only 23, the sky is the limit for Rogers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morgan Rogers is joining Chelsea from Aston Villa in a transfer shocker this will take…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}