Morgan Rogers
Morgan Rogers
Pep Guardiola said Morgan Rogers was the right player at the wrong time for Manchester City.
The Blues paid a sizeable fee in 2019 to bring a 17-year-old Rogers from West Brom but he never made an impact on the first team despite a number of loan moves in the lower divisions. He was sold permanently to Middlesbrough in 2023 but was only there for half a season before Unai Emery was convinced that he could help Aston Villa.
Rogers has become an integral part of the Villa team and showed everything that City's midfield did not on Saturday afternoon as he ended the game with a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win that piles further pressure on City. Having poured cold water on moves for Martin Zubimendi and Bruno Guimaraes in the January window, the Blues watched on as another midfielder exposed the weaknesses in their team.
Guardiola has no doubt about the player Rogers has turned into and believes that he would definitely be a part of his squad this season if he was still at the club. However, the City manager has no regrets about not giving the youngster more opportunities when the players he did use created history.
"Do you know what happened? Some players were in a team who won the Treble and the Quadruple," he said. "It's about the right tempo and the right time that can give a chance.
"Everybody knows how good Morgan is and a lot of players who we loan or sell are, but he was in that age where at that moment we had the players that we had that allowed us to create more success in eight years in the history of our club. Comparing to these 40 days are not good.
"At some point when they are arrive they are two or three years younger and there is Kevin in their prime and Bernardo and Riyad and Leroy and Raheem and sometimes it's difficult. It's the only reason why.
"This situation right now, of course these players would be with us but it was in the right moment. I'm happy for him because he's a lovely guy and he exploded into a top class player. England have another exceptional player."
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