Aston Villa have agreed a £117m fee with Chelsea for ex-Middlesbrough forward Morgan Rogers
11:47, 20 Jul 2026
Morgan Rogers
Morgan Rogers is set to sign for Chelsea(Image: GSI/Icon Sport)
Morgan Rogers’ big-money move to Chelsea this summer won’t be quite as transformative as first believed.
Aston Villa have agreed a £117m sale of the forward, with Boro due 20% of the profit on that fee, as per the terms of their sale to Villa in January 2024.
Rogers flew back from the USA with the England squad on Sunday after helping the Three Lions beat France in the World Cup bronze medal match on Saturday evening.
He was then pictured arriving at Chelsea’s base on Monday morning as he completes his medical and puts the finishing touches on his transfer to Stamford Bridge.
As for Boro, however, hopes that Rogers’ move would massively boost their summer transfer kitty have been dashed, as further details of the deal between Villa and Chelsea emerge.
While in total, Boro will be due just over £20m from the sale of Rogers, adding to the £16m they received from the original sale, that won’t all be coming to Boro this summer. On top of that, Manchester City are due 20% of every bit of money Boro receive, as per the terms of their £1.1m sale of Rogers to Boro.
Chelsea are understood to be paying the Rogers transfer fee over four annual installments. Such agreements are standard across football transfers in the modern game.
When all calculations are done, it means that, after giving Man City their cut, Boro are only expected to get about £4m top add to their transfer kitty this summer.
Boro still ultimately profit largely from the Rogers sale, and have options. They could just choose to leave it as is, and guarantee themselves an extra £4m in revenue each summer for the next three years as well.
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Alternatively, they could choose to take out a loan on the guaranteed payments to boost their transfer kitty further this summer. With interest rates in mind, the loan would be worth less than the £20m they are due, but would be covered and paid back by the future payments when they come.
It’s something Boro have done in the past. They took out a loan with Australian bank Macquirie, secured against the £7.5m worth of installments due on the sale of Marcus Tavernier to Bournemouth, back in July 2023.
The installment payments of transfers is standard across football, and is the same with the sale of Hayden Hackney to Everton this summer. It’s also the case with a number of recent Boro purchases, and also sales.
Money is due to be paid out this summer for the likes of David Strelec, Tommy Conway and Aidan Morris. But there will also be money due at some point in the next 12 months on the sales of players such as Emmanuel Latte Lath, Finn Azaz and Rav van den Berg.
It’s all part of the juggling act that Boro must do during any transfer window as they try to balance the books while remaining competitive on the pitch.
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The club are pushing ahead with their summer transfer plans, with Kim Hellberg backing the recruitment team, based on the planning he’s been involved in this summer.
They’re progressing on a number of fronts as they look to strengthen their squad in a number of key areas ahead of the new season.