Morgan Rogers transfer news: Chelsea agree record £117m deal for Aston Villa forward and Arsenal's No 1 target

Chelsea have agreed a record £117m deal with Aston Villa for Morgan Rogers.

A move to Chelsea is set to come after Arsenal made Rogers their top forward target this summer - and a Gunners approach to Villa was expected after the World Cup had finished.

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However, Arsenal were unwilling to go to that price and Rogers is set to join Chelsea - giving up Champions League football with Villa or Arsenal next season to play for a team without European football at all.

Rogers is expected to sign a six-year contract at Chelsea with the option of another year. He's due to undergo a medical on Monday after he returns from America after England's World Cup campaign.

Rogers will become the most expensive British player - after the record had already been broken this summer after Man City paid £116m for his England team-mate Elliot Anderson.

He is also set to become Chelsea's record signing, overtaking the £115m the Blues paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023.

The 23-year-old scored 14 goals and added 11 assists in 55 appearances for Villa last season.

Since joining from Middlesbrough in a deal worth £16m in 2024, Rogers has quickly risen from young prospect to a fully-fledged England international, with 21 caps to his name already.

He made five of those appearances during the 2026 World Cup and provided the assist to Anthony Gordon during England's semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Middlesbrough stand to make a further £20.3m as part of a sell-on clause agreed for Rogers when they sold him to Aston Villa in January 2024.

Boro sold Rogers for £15.5m and a clause was agreed for 20 per cent of any future profit Villa made on the sale of the winger.

It means Boro have made a total of £35.8m on the sale of Rogers - £34.7m of which is profit. He cost Boro £1.1m to sign from Man City in July 2023 and only played for them for six months.

It is another example of the recruitment Boro have done in the last few years while still maintaining a challenge for promotion.

'Real statement of intent by Chelsea - they're not willing just to be also rans'

Sky Sports News chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol:

Rogers is out here in the States with the England squad but as soon as England return to the UK, he will have his medical in London with Chelsea on Monday and he'll be signing a contract which potentially is seven years long. It will be six years plus the option of another year. That is quite standard with Chelsea.

He's still only 23 years old and was the Europa League Player of the Year last season as Villa won the Europa League. This is a big transfer coup for Chelsea because a lot of people thought that maybe this would be quite a quiet transfer window for Chelsea.

This is a real statement of intent by Chelsea because to pay this kind of money for a player as good as Rogers really shows that Chelsea still mean business.

Villa were under no pressure to sell him. He had a contract which he'd extended until 2031. And if he'd stayed at Villa, of course, he could have played in the Champions League next season.

Historically, Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in English football, but they had a very poor season by their standards last time around. They've got a new manager in Xabi Alonso. I think this shows you that when Alonso took the Chelsea job, some eyebrows were raised. And you have to assume that he was given assurances that he would be backed in the transfer market.

Chelsea are still a very big club, and they're still a very ambitious club. So I think this is a real statement of intent by Chelsea. They're not willing just to be also rans.

So as long as he passes his medical on Monday, then he will become a Chelsea player early next week.

Villa's nightmare summer window: 'Gut punch, after gut punch'

Sky Sports' Lewis Jones:

Aston Villa should have been attacking this summer from a position of strength. Champions League football secured with a fourth-place finish. European silverware in the cabinet. A manager in Unai Emery who had every reason to believe the foundations had finally been laid for Villa to become genuine top-four regulars.

Instead, the early movement in this window has lurched towards nightmare territory.

Youri Tielemans, the metronome of Emery's midfield and arguably the team's most influential player over the last 18 months, has headed to Manchester United. Paris Saint-Germain are expected to activate Lucas Digne's release clause after the World Cup, stripping Villa of one of the Premier League's most reliable attacking full-backs.

And now comes the biggest gut punch of them all. Rogers, Villa's standout performer and the face of the club's exciting future, is on the verge of joining Chelsea in what would be a record sale.

You are looking at a squad being ripped apart. What must Emery be thinking?

His message after lifting the Europa League trophy was clear. This was not the end point. Villa had to build from here. The momentum had to be maintained. Instead, the project appears to be moving backwards.

Johan Manzambi is expected to arrive and there is plenty to like about his potential, but potential does not replace proven Premier League quality overnight.

Emery has built a reputation on solving problems others cannot. But even the best managers need stability. He is staring at the prospect of reconstructing the spine of his team while competing on multiple fronts.

He has worked miracles before. He may need to produce his greatest one yet.

£300m of ex-Man City youth players signed by Chelsea

Rogers would be the seventh former Man City youth player to sign for Chelsea since the new takeover.

The person responsibly for all these former City player signings is Chelsea's co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields.

Shields used to work as Man City's head of academy recruitment and talent management, working alongside former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who was head of City's Elite Development Squad Coach, essentially the club's Under-21s side.

Morgan Rogers - summer of 2026* - £117m

Jamie Gittens - summer of 2025, £51.5m

Liam Delap - summer of 2025, £30m

Jadon Sancho - summer of 2024, loan

Tosin Adarabioyo - summer of 2024, free

Romeo Lavia - summer of 2023, £58m

Cole Palmer - summer of 2023, £40m

*still to be completed

Total spend: £296.5m

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Morgan Rogers transfer news: Chelsea agree record £117m deal for Aston Villa forward and Arsenal's No 1 target