\n<\/p>\n
Morgan Rogers will smash at least nine different transfer records when he completes his surprise \u00a3117m move from Aston Villa to Chelsea.<\/p>\n
It was a \u201cbig surprise\u201d for Arsenal to see their priority signing hijacked<\/strong>but Chelsea have certainly paid for the privilege.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n You had a good run, Moises Caicedo<\/strong>but Chelsea are simply always going to Chelsea.<\/p>\n The Blues effectively made a rod for their own back with the panicked \u00a3115m signing of the Ecuadorean from Brighton<\/strong> three years ago. Nottingham Forest insisted that fee would have to be surpassed and Elliot Anderson made the most expensive central midfielder ever<\/strong> if his sale was to be countenanced, so Manchester City nudged the bar up to \u00a3116m.<\/p>\n That became the benchmark for the summer transfer window of 2026 in a microcosm, and allowed Villa to drive their valuation of Rogers up that little bit further to scare off Arsenal and clear a path to Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n Chelsea will thus become the first club ever to make three separate signings of at least \u00a3100m, overtaking Liverpool, Manchester City, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, all on two.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Only two clubs will have made more than one of those 13 sales worth nine-figure fees. For Aston Villa to even be competing with the greatest vendors in football history<\/strong> is remarkable.<\/p>\n It was reported in summer 2021 that Manchester City were contemplating offering Villa \u00a390m for Jack Grealish<\/strong>with Rogers a part-exchange sweetener to bump the valuation up closer to \u00a3100m.<\/p>\n Villa have managed to make around \u00a3217m on a \u00a315m investment in both, which isn\u2019t bad going for a club hoping to finally stop chasing its PSR tail.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A shiny gold star for whichever Middlesbrough negotiator had the foresight to put a 20 per cent sell-on clause on any profit Villa made on Rogers.<\/p>\n Boro almost certainly collected the entire \u00a315m due in total fees for Rogers, who they signed in July 2023 from Manchester City and sold to Villa in February 2024.<\/p>\n And the Championship side will make even more by taking one-fifth of Villa\u2019s Rogers revenue. The \u00a320.4m sell-on clause alone is slightly higher than the money which took Emmanuel Latte Lath<\/strong> to Atlanta United, even before taking the initial \u00a315m into account.<\/p>\n It is not, however, the most money ever generated through a sell-on clause<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It is a wonder that England DNA\u2019d themselves into passive, retreating oblivion in the World Cup semi-final<\/strong> when two of their starters against Argentina are about to rank among the five most expensive footballers ever.<\/p>\n Elliot Anderson<\/strong> completed his Manchester City move during the tournament \u2013 and should have been dropped for that unforgivable treachery<\/strong> \u2013 while Rogers at least waited until the eve of their third-place play-off to negotiate an obligatory six-year Chelsea contract.<\/p>\n If either player fares as well as Declan Rice, the previous most expensive English footballer before this summer, then it will be money well spent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It is a fairly nebulous concept, especially with talk of Chelsea having promised Rogers a regular starting place on the left wing. But if his position to this point was to be properly categorised it would be as a No. 10 who plays off and in any of the areas behind the striker.<\/p>\n In that sense, he is about to become the most expensive attacking midfielder ever<\/strong>. Xabi Alonso played the biggest role in developing the current incumbent, but will hope that Rogers can adapt quicker and better than Florian Wirtz<\/strong> at Liverpool.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Perhaps the proudest record of all, and another Elliot Anderson<\/strong> will have held painfully briefly before having it wrestled from his devastated, pathetic grasp.<\/p>\n Before his Manchester City switch, the title belonged for an entire decade to Paul Pogba<\/strong>. Manchester United paid \u00a393.2m for the Frenchman\u2019s ostensibly prime years. They are still waiting for them to be unlocked.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It was supposed to be an unbeatable transfer record<\/strong>; in hindsight, it was quite obvious that Chelsea themselves would eventually break it.<\/p>\n Spurs did come close this summer, putting \u00a3100m down to sign Sandro Tonali from a Newcastle side they finished five places below in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n But that \u00a3115m Moises Caicedo<\/strong> move, taking him from Brighton in 6th to Chelsea in 12th in 2023, felt everlasting.<\/p>\n Not so. The gap between Villa in 4th and the Blues in 10th is just as big in terms of positions if not points, and at \u00a3117m it is Rogers taking the most expensive step down in Premier League history.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Along the same lines, but the most effective way of underlining how absurd it is for a Champions League qualifier to lose one of its best players<\/strong> to a team which missed out on European football altogether because they finished below promoted Sunderland.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Our thoughts are with Gibbs-White<\/strong> and Wes at this difficult time.<\/p>\n <\/div>\nThe most expensive Chelsea signing ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive Aston Villa sale ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive Middlesbrough sale ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive English footballer ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive attacking midfielder ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive 23-year-old footballer ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive transfer to a team lower in the Premier League table<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive transfer to a non-Champions League team<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The most expensive Morgan in football history<\/strong><\/h2>\n