Rogers was near irresistible against City.

Soon after scoring, he set Ollie Watkins away with a magnificent deceptive through ball, but the striker could not make it 3-0 as he shot at the keeper.

Against City he had four shots, attempted five ufabet https://ufabet999.app dribbles – completing three – and took six touches in the opposition box. In all of those metrics, he was top of the Villa list.

Admittedly all this was against a City defence shorn of confidence, but Rogers made established internationals look like an over-40s team – and not a good one.

‘He takes the game by the scruff of the neck’

“I am loving watching Morgan Rogers play,” former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart said

“Rogers looks super intelligent, he takes the game by the scruff of the neck. He’s not frantically looking for the ball, but he’s in the right place.”

Rogers’ path to ever present for the team ranked fourth-best in the country last season has been circuitous. At 22 years old, he has already played for seven clubs.

After joining West Brom aged nine and making his senior debut at 16, Rogers’ talent attracted the interest of Manchester City.

Loan spells followed with Lincoln City in League One, then Bournemouth and Blackpool in the Championship before he joined Middlesbrough on a permanent £1.5m deal in July 2023.

He had a mixed start to last season but showed flashes of excellence, including against Chelsea across both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final last January. Still, there was some surprise when Aston Villa paid £8m plus add-ons for him later that month.

But this looks increasingly like one of the best bargains of recent years. Amid talk of clubs struggling to improve and sign players amid profit and sustainability rules, Rogers is an example of what clubs can do with some transfer savvy and a willingness to grow young players.