Unai Emery offered his thoughts on the form of Morgan Rogers,, a rising star in the English game.
The **Aston Villa**Young Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year for the Premier League in the 2024/25 season shone as a bullish force with unusual qualities for a ‘ten’ in the classic sense of the position. With eight goals and 10 assists in 37 league outings, he helped push his team to fifth place in the standings and has also earned recognition with callups for the first team for England.
However, he started the new season slowly in a group that were similarly out of form, and he noted that teams were treating him with more respect, forcing him to try and develop his game further.
Time will tell how well he stands up to that challenge, but the last few weeks have been going better for the attacker. He grabbed an assist against **Fulham**in a 3-1 victory and another for **Donyell Malen**in a 2-1 triumph over **Burnley**before the international break. For the Three Lions, he then netted his first goal for his country, scoring inside the first three minutes against **Wales**in a 3-0 win.
Emery will hope that this latest achievement is a further boost to the confidence of the 23-year-old, whom he will be looking to for a moment of magic against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.
“He is getting better. He started a little bit like the team, not performing very well, not confident.
“But the last matches he played, maybe he’s not scoring, but he is playing better.
“He is feeling better, confident, of course it’s helping him, with the national team, how they were performing collectively and as well individually, his responsibility and being protagonist like he is in the starting eleven.”