Morgan Rogers ‘excited to join biggest club in London’ after making £117m Chelsea move

England international signs seven-year contract

Xabi Alonso was key factor in Chelsea’s record signing

Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea from Aston Villa for a fee of £117m, signing a seven-year deal to become the Blues’ record signing.

A deal was agreed on Saturday for the 23-year-old to move to Stamford Bridge as the club stole in ahead of Arsenal, who had been in talks to sign the England international and had appeared to be favourites to secure his signature.

It is understood that the chance to work with the new Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso was a key factor in persuading Rogers, who has just returned from helping England to a third-place finish at the World Cup, to choose west London.

He started in the 2-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina in Atlanta last Wednesday as well as the 6-4 win over France on Saturday that earned the bronze medal. He told his new club’s website: “I’m so excited. For me, Chelsea are the biggest club in London and a club I’ve always admired since I was a kid. I’m really excited about the project with the new manager, the players we’ve got and where the club is heading. That’s why I’m here and I can’t wait to get started.”

A versatile forward who satisfies Chelsea’s need for a player that can play multiple attacking roles, he has enjoyed a rapid rise at Villa Park following his move from Middlesbrough in January 2024 and helped fire Villa to a top-four finish and the Europa League last season.

He leaves Villa having scored 31 times in 125 appearances under Unai Emery.

The deal represents one of the most significant buys of Chelsea owners BlueCo’s four-year reign. Co-owner Behdad Eghbali indicated towards the end of last season that the club had learned the lessons of an underwhelming campaign in which the team finished 10th and were thrashed in the Champions League last 16 by Paris Saint-Germain, and that they would be targeting players in the market that would be in a position to help them challenge for the title.

The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder Alonso, a two-time Champions League winner as a player, was hired partly in order to convince the right calibre of player to move to Chelsea.

The deal for Rogers is arguably the biggest the club have pulled off since Cole Palmer moved from Manchester City in 2023. Rogers becomes the fourth signing of the summer as the Blues overhaul their squad, following the arrivals of defender Marco Palestra, striker Emmanuel Emegha and winger Geovany Quenda.

In June, the club failed in an attempt to reunite Alonso with Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka, with Chelsea unwilling to meet the Black Cats’ valuation of a player who will turn 34 in September.