Aston Villa face an important summer.
Sitting in fourth place after 30 games, Unai Emery’s men are closing in on qualification for the Champions League in what has become an unprecedented first full season in the West Midlands for the 52-year-old.
The January transfer window did not provide much excitement for most Premier League clubs; however, the Spaniard did manage to bring key target Morgan Rogers from Middlesbrough to B6.
As the attacking midfielder came through the doors of Villa Park, rumours swirled stating that the Villans may have to offload someone soon to account for profit and sustainability rules that have been catching clubs out in recent months.
Jacob Ramsey was that someone.
Ramsey is an elegant player; someone who oozes grace as he glides across the pitch when carrying the ball.
As he has steadily become a key player for Villa, his decision-making and box-crashing has improved along with his ability to progress the ball from midfield areas, particularly on the transition.
After picking up an injury with England’s U21 side at last summer’s European Championships, he has struggled for fitness all campaign and has not been able to string a consistent run of games together.
The 22-year-old is a home-grown Villa academy product, hailing from Great Barr in Birmingham, and thus a summer sale would generate around €42m (according to Transfermarkt) of pure profit.
This is imperative if Emery is wanting to recruit heavily again before a potential Champions League campaign in 2024/25.
Against Wolves, Ramsey was, once again, out of the squad.
But in his place, on the left of the midfield four, was Rogers.
Like Ramsey, he is a majestic ball carrier and as he continues to adjust to a new, distinct style of play under Emery, his potential came to the fore glaringly against Villa’s Midlands rivals.
Rogers played 63 minutes against Wolves – he is still yet to play a full 90 – but was an effective weapon in his side’s arsenal.
The England youth international, who scored two goals in the U21s’ last match against Luxembourg, performed three progressive carries in his hour-long appearance which was second in his team only to Ezri Konsa.
Twice he went on mazy forays forward, slaloming through Wolves players and winning fouls on both occasions.
For the first, and most impressive, Rogers intercepts the ball from Wolves’ Tommy Doyle just outside his own penalty area.
Using his lofty six-foot three frame, he shields the ball brilliantly, spinning past his first man with gentle ease and always in control of his figure.
Quick feet and a reckless lunge from his opponent mean he skips past another, generating roars around Villa Park, an example of the rapid micro-movements and graceful shifting of body weight he is capable of to get out of tight spaces.
Rayan Aït-Nouri was his next adversary, Rogers drawing grapples from the left back…
…however, the 21-year-old shrugs him off as well, Aït-Nouri ending up on the deck and lucky to get away yellow card-less.
As the front three of the Villans drag the defence away from Rogers, leaving him space to continue to drive forward into, he wins one of the two fouls he drew that evening with Pablo Sarabia ending up in the book.
In Ramsey’s absence, the former Manchester City academy star was a driving force in Villa’s transition from defence and attack, particularly in the first half where the hosts started slower than they would’ve liked and were put on the back foot by the visitors.
Rogers is raw.
Sometimes taking too long to make the killer decision and not yet finding himself in those goalscoring positions in and around the box often enough, he’s not the finished article and is behind Ramsey in ability and the pecking order.
But the potential he possesses is evident and his statistics are not dissimilar to his left midfield rival.
When comparing Ramsey’s numbers per 90 from last season with Rogers’ stats at Villa so far this season, they prove that the latter is quite capable of making the step up into the former’s shadow if he is ever to stray from the light.
It is worth considering that Rogers has played significantly less 90s in those times (2.1) than his teammate (29.3).
Rogers continues to make strides at Villa, his performance on Easter Saturday arguably his best showing yet, but, as he revealed after the game, Emery likes to remind him that he is still a “Championship player.”
Harsh, isn’t it?
But that is the pushy, yet healthy, relationship the two have.
Those are the standards the Spaniard sets, and the boy from Halesowen is beginning to realise them.
Malachi Obrey 