There are very few secrets in football. Every shot, pass and tackle is logged by dozens of scouting platforms, giving clubs access to more information than they can shake a stick at.
Yet there are some who slip under the radar of even the most attentive eyes.
When Thomas Tuchel was appointed England manager last October, he had a working knowledge of virtually every player – with one notable exception.
Tuchel had seen flashes of Morgan Rogers this season and last, but it was not until he settled into his seat at Villa Park last January, ahead of Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with Celtic, that he realised what the fuss was all about.
As first impressions go, scoring a hat-trick in front of a new national boss is fairly useful. It was not only Rogers’ treble that caught Tuchel’s eye, however. The 22-year-old has rare ball-carrying ability and is robust enough to withstand most challenges. At 6ft 3in and with a powerful build, in full flight he resembles a top rugby league player. He scores highly for touch, vision and finishing, too.
‘What a player,’ Tuchel is said to have marvelled whenever Rogers was mentioned after that display. Naturally, Tuchel named Rogers in his first squad and during that camp, his admiration only grew.
Morgan Rogers was quick to introduce himself to new England head coach Thomas Tuchel
Having grown up with players including Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers’ route to the centre stage has been slightly more roundabout
Jude Bellingham is another player that Rogers is close with – and they could soon regularly start alongside for England
Tuchel was struck by how quickly Rogers absorbed his instructions and how relaxed he appeared in the England environment, despite being a relative newcomer.
It is easy to imagine Rogers lining up alongside close friends Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham in Tuchel’s first-choice XI when England open their World Cup campaign next summer. Rogers’ home town Halesowen is six miles from Stourbridge, where Bellingham grew up. These West Midlands lads first crossed swords in local matches and forged a friendship from there.
Rogers has called Bellingham, who is a year younger, ‘little bro’ on social media before and the families are on good terms. When Rogers made his senior international debut last November, Bellingham posted a picture of the pair as youngsters, wearing England shirts.
Saturday’s meeting with Crystal Palace is another chance for Rogers to show his talent with all eyes on him. A win would take Villa into their first FA Cup final since 2015 and put them on the brink of a first major trophy since 1996.
Should Rogers score, he would perform the now familiar ‘shivering’ celebration made famous by Palmer. The inspiration is the word ‘cold’ – a Gen Z slang term to indicate approval – and Rogers insists he, rather than the Chelsea star, coined it when the pair were in the junior ranks at Manchester City. Rogers has jokingly threatened to sue his friend for using it without permission, while Paris Saint-Germain’s promising young forward Desire Doue has also adopted it.
It shows how quickly Rogers is climbing the mountain. The wider football public noticed Palmer’s ability only when he joined Chelsea and he has been there less than two years. Rogers joined Villa from Middlesbrough in February 2024 and in the age of data-driven, analytics-based recruitment, it remains a triumph for the old-fashioned eye test.
Had Villa not drawn Boro in the third round of the FA Cup, who knows where Rogers would be today?
He had moved to the Championship club from City only the previous summer and was still trying to nail down a regular place in Michael Carrick’s starting XI.
Palmer might have made the ‘cold’ celebration his own, but Rogers insists he introduced it
The 22-year-old showed off when then-club Middlesbrough were drawn against Villa in last year’s FA Cup
Head coach Unai Emery quickly became fixated on the player and signed him that winter
Yet when Villa boss Unai Emery opened his laptop and began dissecting Boro’s recent fixtures, his eyes lit up. Emery believes versatility is the most important trait for an attacker in today’s game and he saw Rogers operating effectively on both flanks, as well as in the No10 position and even at centre forward.
Rogers featured so heavily in the squad’s video analysis meetings before that fixture that Emery’s players wondered if there was more to the manager’s enthusiasm than met the eye.
And after Villa won 1-0, a few of them approached Rogers to pass on Emery’s enthusiasm. ‘He keeps on mentioning you,’ they said. By February 1, Rogers had joined Villa for £8.5m – one of the best deals of recent times, which owed much to the simple luck of the draw. In nearly 15 months at Villa Park, he has registered 17 goals and 14 assists in 65 appearances.
Emery regards Rogers as one of his smartest players. He loves the way the attacker assimilates instructions, usually delivered in Emery’s training-ground office via a laptop, quickly and without fuss.
Whether he plays on the right, on the left or through the middle, Rogers is a key part of the Villa attacking ‘box’ – when Villa build from defence, he moves off the flank to receive the ball and link play from there. Though he has still to iron out wrinkles in his aerial play and decision-making with his back to goal, Rogers is progressing well.
Academy coaches Mark Harrison and Steve Hopcroft had worked with Rogers when he was a junior at West Bromwich Albion, his boyhood club, and helped his adaptation, but Rogers’ sparky personality did the rest. He was one of the few to form a bond with departed forward Jhon Duran, who could be a complex character, and has helped Marcus Rashford and Donyell Malen feel at home.
Rogers is a key member of the squad and has welcomed newcomers like Marcus Rashford
Behind him is the strong support of his family, including brother Daniel Belgrave (right) who has a masters in counselling and psychotherapy
Rogers has strong family support. Brother Daniel Belgrave has a Master’s degree in counselling and psychotherapy, and has worked with Chelsea and Tottenham. Under the guidance of another brother, Ash Belgrave, Rogers trained individually in Miami and the Algarve last summer and also hired a personal chef. It has been a complicated journey from junior club Halas Hawks, where Rogers was spotted as a five-year-old, to the Champions League, but Rogers is demonstrating he belongs there.
Rogers was handed a new deal with a significant pay rise last November, less than a year after his move from Boro, and another increase is surely on the cards this year if he continues to perform, especially with Europe’s elite taking a growing interest in English football’s new superstar. The PFA Young Player of the Year award should be well within reach, especially if Villa end the season with a trophy.
As a keen cricket fan and a talented player in his youth, Rogers knows the significance of milestones and the semi-final is set to be his 50th appearance of the season for Villa. Rogers keeps setting the bar higher, although if Tuchel is watching on Saturday nothing will surprise him this time.
