UK: Chelsea head coach Alonso addresses media following Brighton win.
Arsenal Football Newsletter
Ian Wright has bemoaned the fact Arsenal failed to sign Morgan Rogers this summer amid rumours he would have preferred a move to the Gunners over Chelsea.
The Blues landed Aston Villa’s Rogers in a British record £117m deal in July, pipping Arsenal to the punch after they had earmarked the player as a preferred target early in the summer transfer window.
Rogers’ move to Stamford Bridge followed various reports he had been leaning towards joining Arsenal and was keen to work under Mikel Arteta.
New reports from the Daily Mail echo that, adding Rogers’ camp had asked Arsenal’s executives to match Chelsea’s eye-watering bid.
Morgan Rogers has made a bright start to life in west London despite reports he would have preferred a move to Arsenal
The bid never came, though, and Rogers later took a dig at the Gunners in his Chelsea unveiling as he celebrated signing for “the biggest club in London.”
Transfer Deadline Day has now come and gone, with Christos Tzolis representing Arsenal’s sole attacking reinforcement, while links with Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Junior never amounted to much.
And Wright has now made his frustrations public as he remains adamant Rogers would have been a perfect addition to Arteta's squad.
“I think we did need Rogers,” Wright said on Stick to Football.
“It’s not a disastrous window but if I’m Mikel (Arteta), I wouldn’t be happy with how this window has gone simply because we’ve gone another window where we have not got that forward.
Ian Wright worries Arsenal have not given Mikel Arteta enough to work with in the transfer window
“Mikel has talked about getting players to take us to that level, he did it again after Paris, where we didn’t have that player to break them. That is the player Mikel wanted. They chased Vini until the end of the earth and left Morgan Rogers dangling.”
In spite of the uninspiring transfer window, headlined by the addition of Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes, Arsenal have made a perfect start to their Premier League title defence, dispatching Coventry and Aston Villa with minimal consternation.
Wright continued: “You say we have got those types of players but that is what Mikel wanted. It is a position where we need that player. Of course Saka is back, Odegaard is back, Havertz is back and playing together, but he wanted that difference-maker.
Read More
Gary Neville makes Arsenal vs Chelsea prediction
Transfer news LIVE: Arsenal medical; Richarlison faces Turkey deadline
La Liga boss claims Arsenal made Deadline Day swoop for young forward
Art After Dark is back with an exciting calendar of cultural events
“He [Rogers] is the one we were linked with ages ago and he would have loved to have come, I can feel it.
“There’s something that’s happened with Arsenal with the way they were going for Vini. If you’re a player and you see a team going for him, you think, ‘I thought they were interested in me?’. It is the player the manager wanted. Chelsea thought, well if you’re not going to pay it, we’ll pay it. I’m gutted, I would have loved him to come.”