Morgan Rogers to Chelsea: Paul Merson says Blues do not need to spend £117m on Aston Villa forward as they have Cole Palmer | Football News

In his latest column, Sky Sports’ Paul Merson gives his reaction to Morgan Rogers’ stunning £117m move to Chelsea.

Rogers is set to become Britain’s most-expensive footballer ever by leaving Aston Villa this summer. He is set to sign a six-year deal, with the option of another year, at Stamford Bridge.

Read below for the Magic Man’s thoughts in full about what this move means for Chelsea, Arsenal and Villa…

‘I just can’t see where Rogers plays’

It’s a lot of money. Crazy money. Bringing Morgan Rogers in for £117m isn’t what Chelsea needed.

They’ve got Cole Palmer! They play in the same position! Rogers went to the World Cup instead of Palmer, because they play in the same position.

Unless Chelsea go for the almighty and sell Enzo Fernandez – and swallow the pill for him, because he’s not worth £100m – and then play Moises Caicedoat the base, then Rogers and Palmer both ahead of him.

But Joao Pedrois also a No 10. So with Joao Pedro, Rogers and Palmer, Chelsea have bought an attacking midfielder when they already have two very good ones.

Where’s Palmer going to be? Stuck out on the right again? He’s wasted in that position. And if Rogers is played out on the right – no disrespect, but there are a lot better right wingers than him out there.

For me, Rogers is a No 10. He’s at his absolute best in open play. When the game gets broken up and he’s running with the ball, he’s very good at that.

But he won’t get that at Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge, opposition teams kick off and sit 10 behind the ball. There’s no space.

And Rogers has got to carry that price tag around with him. He will sit there and say: ‘there is no pressure on me, I didn’t pay that fee’. But it’s a load of rubbish. Everybody will look at that when you don’t do well.

A lot of people were saying it was too much for Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo when they moved for £100m. But the biggest compliment I can give them is nobody ever mentions it. They were good signings. That’s what Rogers has got to hope for.

But he’s got to make things happen, which is a harder position to be in than Rice and Caicedo were. In midfield, you can do this and that – but Rogers will be judged on scoring and creating goals. That’s the hardest job in the world.

I’m also sure that at the start of last season, he was atrocious for Aston Villa. I’m sure he was. Then he came good and then had a good second part of the season.

He can’t play like that at Chelsea. That is an absolute no-go, it’s a different ball game when you go for that kind of money.

‘Arsenal need to move onto Doue or Barcola’

This move tells me that Arsenal were telling Rogers that he would play left wing, and Chelsea have told him that he will play where he wants to play, which is the No 10 role.

Because I have no idea how he goes to Chelsea instead of Arsenal if they’re going to play in the same position.

One team looks like they’re going to win the Premier League again this year and have a good chance for the Champions League, and one team isn’t even in Europe. Unless the money in the seven-year contract is mind-blowing.

Arsenal will have to now go and get another left winger. They’ll have to try and get Desire Doue or Bradley Barcolafrom PSG. There are not a lot of wingers around, but if you want to go top, top drawer and improve what you’ve got, then that’s what they have to get.

I cannot believe they sold Leandro Trossard by the way, I’m flabbergasted by it. They sold him for the price of a cup of tea!

Trossard played in all the big games at the end of the season. Against the big teams, he played and he played for a reason. He’s a very good footballer.

He also doesn’t come across as someone who stinks the place out or kicks up a fuss when he doesn’t’ play. He gets on with it, comes on and does his job. I just can’t believe what I’ve seen in that transfer, I don’t get it at all.

You have to go out and buy again and buy again if you want to stay at the top. Arsenal need a few players – but they definitely need a left winger if they want to go up another level.

‘What is going on at Villa? Konsa could go too…’

I just cannot believe what has happened to Aston Villa in all this.

They’ve just got into the Champions League, they’ve pulled up trees and won a European trophy. That’s phenomenal for a club like Villa to do that in the same season.

But all of a sudden, they’ve lost their two best players in Youri Tielemans and Rogers. They’re Villa’s two best players by a country mile. Their two most creative players have left.

Tielemans was the midfielder who passed the ball, got them up the pitch, got a great range of vision and passing ability. Then Rogers took the ball up the pitch in broken-up play and made things happen.

But those two have gone. If you were Unai Emery and asking who would you sell, Tielemans and Rogers would have been the last two.

And if I was a Villa fan applying for a season ticket, I’d make sure those two players were there first. Because you want to be entertained. And they are entertaining.

And I think Ezri Konsacould go as well. Arsenal might go for him, and Chelsea might buy him too. They need a centre-back.

Johan Manzambi looks alright. But he’s just alright. When you look at these players when they come in, you have to ask: who else is after them?

It’s the same with Arsenal signing Christos Tzolis. He might be a wonderkid, but they weren’t batting elite clubs away to get him. Were Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool after the likes of Tzolis and Manzambi?