There are very few secrets in football. Each stroke, pass and platform is recorded by dozens of screening platforms, giving clubs access to more information than they can shake a stick.
However, there are some who slide the most attentive eyes under the radar.
When Thomas Tuchel was appointed director of England last October, he had practical knowledge of almost all players – with a notable exception.
Tuchel had seen the flashes of Morgan Rogers this season and the last, but it was only when he settled in his headquarters at Villa Park last January, in front of the Aston Villa conflict in the Champions League with Celtic, which he realized what it was.
Over the first impressions, marking a hat -trick in front of a new national patron is quite useful. It was not only the treble of Rogers who caught Tuchel’s attention. The 22 -year -old has a rare ball transport capacity and is robust enough to withstand most challenges. At 6 inches 3 inch and with a powerful construction, in flight, it looks like a better rugby league player. It marks highly to touch, vision and finish.
“What a player,” Tuchen would have amazed each time Rogers was mentioned after this display. Naturally, Tuchel appointed Rogers in his first team and during this camp, his admiration was only growing.
Morgan Rogers was quick to go to New England Chief Coach Thomas Tuchel
Having grown up with players, including Cole Palmer de Chelsea, Morgan Rogers’ route to the front of the stage was slightly more roundabout
Jude Bellingham is another player with whom Rogers is near – and they could soon start regularly alongside England
Tuchel was struck by the speed with which Rogers absorbed his instructions and how much he appeared in the environment in England, although he was a newcomer.
It is easy to imagine that Rogers lines up alongside close friends Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham in the first choice of Tuchel, when England opens its World Cup campaign next summer. The hometown of Rogers, Halesowen, is six miles from Stourbridge, where Bellingham grew up. These West Midlands guys crossed the swords for the first time in local matches and forged a friendship from there.
Rogers called Bellingham, who is already a year less, “little brother” on social networks and families are on good terms. When Rogers made his international senior debut last November, Bellingham published a photo of the pair as young, wearing shirts in England.
The Saturday meeting with Crystal Palace is another chance for Rogers to show his talent with all his eyes on him. A victory would take Villa into their first FA Cup final since 2015 and would put them on the brink of a first major trophy since 1996.
If Rogers scores, he would make the “Shivering” celebration now familiar made famous by Palmer. Inspiration is the word “cold” – a term of slang of Gen Z to indicate the approval – and Rogers insists on the fact that he, rather than the Chelsea star, invented it when the pair was in the junior ranks of Manchester City. Rogers jokingly threatened to continue his friend for having used him without authorization, while the promising young desire of Paris Saint-Germain, Doure, also adopted it.
This shows how fast Rogers goes up the mountain. The wider public in football only noticed the capacity to palmer when he joined Chelsea and he has stayed there for less than two years. Rogers joined Villa of Middlesbrough in February 2024 and in the era of recruitment based on data and based on the analysis, there remains a triumph for the old -fashioned eye test.
Villa had not drawn Boro in the third round of the FA Cup, who knows where Rogers would be today?
He had moved to the City Championship club only the previous summer and was still trying to nail a regular place in the XI of the departure of Michael Carrick.
Palmer might have made the “cold” celebration, but Rogers insists that he presented it
The 22 -year -old showed up when Middlesbrough, then club, was attracted to Villa during the FA Cup last year
Head coach Unai Emery quickly became obsessed with the player and signed it this winter
However, when the boss of Villa Unai Emery opened his laptop and began to dissect the recent achievements of Boro, his eyes were on. Emery thinks that versatility is the most important line for an attacker in today’s game and he saw Rogers effectively operating on the two sides, as well as in position no10 and even forward.
Rogers presented so strongly in the team’s video analysis meetings before this match that Emery’s players wondered if there was no more enthusiasm of the manager who met the eye.
And after Villa won 1-0, some of them approached Rogers to transmit Emery’s enthusiasm. “He continues to mention you,” they said. On February 1, Rogers had joined Villa for 8.5 million pounds sterling – one of the best offers in recent times, which was very likely to the draw. In almost 15 months at Villa Park, he recorded 17 goals and 14 assists in 65 appearances.
Emery considers Rogers to be one of his smartest players. He likes the way the attacker assimilates the instructions, generally delivered in the office of the Emery training field via a laptop, quickly and without hassle.
Whether he plays on the right, on the left or in the middle, Rogers is a key element of the villa attacking the “box” – when the villa is built from the defense, it removes from the flank to receive the ball and the connection game from there. Although he still had to eliminate wrinkles in his aerial game and his decision -making with his return to goal, Rogers is progressing well.
The coaches of the Mark Harrison and Steve Hopcroft academy worked with Rogers when he was a junior in West Bromwich Albion, his childhood club, and helped his adaptation, but the brilliant personality of Rogers did the rest. He was one of the few to form a link with the party striker Jhon Duran, who could be a complex character, and helped Marcus Rashford and Donyell Malen feel at home.
Rogers is a key member of the team and welcomed newcomers like Marcus Rashford
Behind him is the strong support of his family, including brother Daniel Belgrave (right) who has a master’s degree in counseling and psychotherapy
Rogers has solid family support. Brother Daniel Belgrave holds a master’s degree in counseling and psychotherapy and worked with Chelsea and Tottenham. Under the supervision of another brother, Ash Belgrave, Rogers individually trained in Miami and Algarve last summer and also hired a personal chief. It was a complicated trip to the Halas Hawks junior club, where Rogers was spotted at the age of five, in the Champions League, but Rogers demonstrated that he belongs to it.
Rogers received a new agreement with a significant salary increase last November, less than a year after its Boro move, and another increase is surely on cards this year if it continues to occur, in particular with the European elite which is increasing in the new superstar of English football. The price of the young player of the year PFA should be well at hand, especially if Villa ends the season with a trophy.
As a fan of passionate cricket and talented player in his youth, Rogers knows the importance of the milestones and the semi-final should be his 50th appearance of the season for Villa. Rogers continues to adjust the bar higher, although if Tuchel looks on Saturday, nothing will surprise him this time.
