One of the most exciting players to watch in the Premier League so far this season has been Aston Villa’s attacking midfielder Morgan Rogers.
The 22-year-old, who joined the club from Middlesbrough last January for upwards of £16m, has been a crucial player for Unai Emery this term.
So far in seven Premier League games, the attacker has scored once and has two assists to his name. A superb ball carrier, Rogers has completed an average of two dribbles per 90 minutes, at a success rate of 47%.
He has been pivotal to Emery’s side, with his quick feet and power when carrying through the lines helping them become such an attacking force.
Stat
Number
Games
7
G/A
3
Big chances created
4
Key passes per game
1.4
Ball recoveries per game
4.4
Dribbles completed per game
2
Dribble success rate per game
47%
This season, there has certainly been extra responsibility on Rogers and co, who earns £20k per week, after some big names left Villa Park in the 2024 summer transfer window.
Villa’s 2024 summer sales
There were two marquee departures for the Villans last summer, namely winger Moussa Diaby and midfielder Douglas Luiz. French international Diaby made the move to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad, for a fee of £50m, just one year after moving to Villa Park for almost £52m the previous summer.
In another shocking move, Luiz left Villa to join one of the giants of European football, Italian outfit Juventus. The Brazilian joined the Turin outfit for a fee in the region of £21m, with Englishman Samuel Iling-Junior and young midfielder Enzo Barrenechea going the other way.
It is believed the deal to sell such an important player coincided with the need to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, with a loose deadline being the 30th of June.
There were two other notable sales for Villa this summer, including Cameron Archer who left just weeks after rejoining the club. He moved to Southampton following his transfer from Sheffield United. Youngster Tim Iroegbunam also left the club to join Everton.
Whilst some of these signings have enjoyed a good start at their new clubs, Luiz has found life on the pitch in Turin tough so far.
Luiz’s stats at Juventus so far
26-year-old Brazil international Luiz was superb for Villa, so losing him in the summer was a big blow for Emery, no matter how unavoidable it was due to PSR regulations.
He was a key player for the Midlands club, playing 206 times, scoring 22 goals and grabbing 24 assists from midfield. He helped the club return to the Champions League last term.
However, life in Turin simply has not worked out like that so far for the former Girona player. Luiz has played eight times for the Old Lady, missing just one game as an unused substitute. On the flip side, however, he has just one start under his belt so far.
So far, the Brazilian, who has 18 caps for Selecao Canarinho, has played more than 45 minutes in a single game once, completing 67 minutes in the Serie A in a 0-0 draw away to Empoli. Aside from that, the most minutes he has played in one match is just 29, in the Champions League.
Incredibly, the former Villa man has played just 222 minutes in total in Serie A and the Champions League, at an average of 27.75 minutes per game. He has played the equivalent of just 2.46 full 90 minute games.
Given his excellent performances in that famous Claret and Blue shirt of the Villans, that is surely not how he expected things to work out in Turin. Luiz, who earns £134k-per-week, as per Capology, over six times more than Rogers, was described as among the summer signings who are “struggling” by football presenter Dougie Critchley.
It has been a frustrating start to life in black and white stripes for the midfielder, who has even been branded a ‘flop’ by Italian media, having given away a penalty in successive games against RB Leipzig and Cagliari.
The former Villa hero will be desperate for his career in Italy to pick up soon, or he may well wish he was still on the books back at Villa Park.
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