Crystal Palace v Aston Villa: Matt Maher preview
The latest Premier League transfer news as Chelsea plot an Aston Villa bid that would break the internet.
Chelsea are considering making a bid for an Aston Villa star that would shatter the Premier League transfer record, if a bold January report is to be believed.
The Blues, currently fifth in the table and now well cut adrift from the title race, are eager to bolster their attacking options for the rest of the season. It’s a month of change for the Stamford Bridge outfit as Enzo Maresca recently left his managerial role and his successor, Liam Rosenior, will need time to settle.
In an effort to make the transition as smooth as possible, Chelsea are seemingly weighing up their next moves in the transfer market. Goals haven’t been much of an issue; in fact, Chelsea are equal-fourth in the Premier League for the most scored so far this campaign with 33. But inconsistency has been a huge problem and a big-name acquisition could perhaps help to fix that.
Chelsea eye ‘stratospheric’ £130m Aston Villa bid
Or at least that’s what the speculation would suggest, with a transfer plan reportedly in the offing that would cause mayhem. According to reports in Spain, as relayed by London World, Chelsea are ‘planning a stratospheric investment’ of around £130 million to land Villa star man Morgan Rogers.
The Blues have been keeping close tabs on Rogers’ development since he made his Premier League breakthrough and their interest in the England international is growing. The report suggests Rogers is Chelsea’s ‘most coveted’ target and that a Premier League transfer record-shattering bid wouldn’t be out of the question.
Chelsea already have the likes of Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro, Alejandro Garnacho, Estevao and Jamie Gittens in the attacking midfield and wide areas but Rogers could help take them to the next level. Rogers has been one of Villa’s best players ever since he joined from Middlesbrough, after all, and he’s now firmly in Thomas Tuchel’s England plans ahead of the World Cup.
Aston Villa’s stance on Morgan Rogers sale
So then, would Villa sell Rogers if Chelsea offered such mouth-watering money? Well, they probably would if it were £130 million. That would be game-changing for the Villans, who have struggled to meet the remits of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) for several successive seasons.
But, in reality, Chelsea probably wouldn’t be bidding quite that much, and so a sale might not be quite as obvious. Birmingham World understands Villa remain highly reluctant to sell Rogers and it would take something mesmerising to let him go. That has been the club’s stance for transfer window after transfer window, and it won’t budge.
With Villa as close to a Premier League title race as they have been in decades and with Champions League qualification up for grabs, it would be a silly time to sell one of their best players. Rogers, who has scored 24 goals and provided 23 assists in 97 appearances for Villa to date, recently scored successive braces against West Ham United and Manchester United. Losing that kind of output would be far from ideal.
Let us know – should Villa sell Rogers if Chelsea come knocking with a £130 million bid?
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