Morgan Rogers is an English talent who climbed the ranks of the England academy system, starting from West Bromwich Albion before making a £4.4m transfer from the U18 West Brom team to the U23 Manchester City team.
It’s a hefty price to pay for a youngster who hasn’t played in the top flight yet.
Bouncing from club to club on loans from 2020 and then at Middlesbrough in the 2023/2024 season, he started to pick up more talk around his name before a move to Aston Villa.
So far, this 2024/2025 season has been his best and could be considered his breakout season.
He played 4,233 minutes and 51 games, getting 14 goals and 13 assists, a total of 27 G/A, impressive for a player in his first-ever UEFA Champions League season and first full Premier League season.
Unai Emery is a great coach, and the system suits him well, which is undoubtedly a reason for his success in the Aston Villa squad.
But without a doubt, Morgan Rogers is a superb talent.
In this player analysis, we’ll examine how he fits in the Aston Villa system and what position we think is best for him.
Who Is Morgan Rogers?
The confusion about this 22-year-old England international is his main position.
Is he a winger? Is he a number 10? A second striker? A striker?
He’s played more games as a winger than any other position combined, but this season at Aston Villa, he’s not an out-and-out winger; he plays wide but drifts inside.
The key question is: where can you put him to get the best out of him?
In this scout report, we’ll take a look at his game through the lens of what he could be like as a false nine.
Morgan Rogers Best Position
Rogers has played in various positions and roles, but when deciding where he fits best, it’s essential to consider the player’s primary attributes, strengths, and weaknesses.
Morgan Rogers Radar Map
The radar map shows Morgan Rogers as an attacking midfielder for the 2024/2025 season at Aston Villa.
There are some key parts I want to highlight about his radar map.
What’s interesting to note is that the aerial duels won per 90 are 67.4, the dribbles per 90 are 67.8, the touches in the opponent’s box are 67.4 per 90, and the dangerous passes per 90 are at the 69.53 percentile.
His best percentiles in his radar map are those that most suit a role as an attacking midfielder, but Morgan Rogers is very clinical in front of goal, which we will examine in his shot map below.
His best role is even higher than a number 10, but as a false nine.
He could be best suited as a second striker if the number nine beside him is very good, but experimenting with him as a false nine makes sense.
He has great dangerous passing statistics, the aerial ability due to his physical frame and height to win balls at the very top, and great technical ability on the ball.
But as a singular nine, it’s a bit too much for his profile.
Morgan Rogers Goal Contributions
This section of our analysis will use data to highlight Rogers’ goal contributions in the 2024/2025 campaign while also sharing my opinion on his strengths in front of goal.
Morgan Rogers Shot Map At Aston Villa
Below is Rogers’ shot map for four competitions he played in this season: the English Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, and the U21 national friendlies.
13.28 xG on 14 goals is very good; it shows he’s very clinical when shooting at goal.
He’s a big goal threat, so I believe he should be closer to goal than his attacking 10 role.
However, being a winger also puts him a little away from goal as well.
The closer you can get him to the net, the more attacking threat your team will have.
Morgan Rogers Shot Assist Map At Aston Villa
Providing 13 assists, on top of his clinical play in front of goal, makes him such a complete attacking threat.
That’s why he’s been interchangeably used between the wing and the 10 role at Aston Villa, since he creates a strong link-up with players around him and delivers the final pass.
That’s why the false nine role suits him best.
He can help the two wingers around him by feeding them balls in behind or giving them opportunities while also being a scoring threat.
Morgan Rogers As A #10
We have seen much more of Rogers as an attacking midfielder than as a false nine.
The two positions have some similarities but are still very different in terms of responsibilities.
Nevertheless, we’ve seen Rogers demonstrate some qualities as a #10 that would translate well to a false nine role.
Morgan Rogers Movement As A #10
Morgan Rogers Movement – Attacking Midfielder pic.twitter.com/TnRQKJ1w4Z
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) May 4, 2025
Morgan Rogers’ movement as a #10 is part of what could make him an amazing false nine.
He makes the run from deep in midfield into that number nine zone, then throws the opponent off completely in the box with his tight dribbling and goes for goal.
Now, he does miss this opportunity to score, but later recovers the ball and provides an assist.
The primary focus is his extremely forward mindset; he’s not shy about exploiting the spaces in front.
Morgan Rogers Assist As A #10
Morgan Rogers Assist – Attacking Midfielder pic.twitter.com/wcKi2Neloe
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) May 4, 2025
This video is very close to what you could imagine him as a false nine.
The teammate in front of him drifted out wide, creating space for him to drive a few more yards forward before releasing the ball.
But him naturally being in this position would be best for his development.
He fits that role very well.
He releases the ball at the perfect time, demonstrating an excellent understanding of ‘La Pausa‘, and places it with the perfect weight and speed.
Morgan Rogers Movement And Goal As A #10
Morgan Rogers Goal And Movement pic.twitter.com/UVanJjx52A
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) May 4, 2025
The Villa man’s movement here shows his intelligence in the final third.
He knows there’s no room in the centre.
If he makes the run straight forward, he’ll clog up the space and still be man-marked.
Instead, he takes a run to the wide zone on the right, where he can slip in behind, where no defenders are.
This strategy works, as he gets an easy tap-in.
It’s the movement and understanding of where to be that really resonates.
Many young strikers would stick in that classic nine spot, but the ball can’t get to you there; it’ll be intercepted.
But the sneaky movement in behind works, similar to how Luis Suárez moves in the box, sneaking around.
Morgan Rogers Heat Map At Aston Villa
His heat map shows he has lots of time in that ‘nine-ish’ area and the wing area.
It’s also interesting to see how far he tracks back out wide.
When analysing his game at first, I thought the 22-year-old could be a monstrous box-to-box midfielder.
He has the physical frame, speed, and work ethic for it.
But after further looking into his profile in the final third, it’s a waste to have him back there as a box-to-box.
He needs to be closer to the goal—but if he ever needed to put a shift deeper in midfield, he certainly could do it.
Morgan Rogers Aerial Duels & Physicality
Morgan Rogers Aerial Duel pic.twitter.com/4PeuJPnHAa
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) May 4, 2025
Morgan Rogers’ physicality also made me wonder if he could be an ‘8’ or box-to-box.
We can see above that he challenges two people in the aerial duel, wins it, and then outmuscles the player with his physical frame to let his team have the throw-in.
Since it’s best for him to be close to the goal, he would be great in the false nine role.
He can win long balls for his team and has the physicality for the build-up play.
It’s similar to Karim Benzema and how he played that false nine role at Real Madrid.
Morgan Rogers Penetrating Carries Map At Aston Villa
His penetrative carries map supports my thesis on why the false nine role would be perfect for him.
He already has a very high amount of penetrative carries (156) as a midfielder, but if you have him even higher up the pitch, he’ll be getting into the box even more often.
It’s interesting to note how easily he can enter the box even from a face-on angle—facing straight at goal, he’s still able to get into dangerous zones.
Most penetrative carries you’ll see have the arrows coming in at an angle from the sides of the box, which you do see with him here, but there is a large amount that’s coming head-on.
Making him a great ball carrier and turning the team from midfield into a transition into attack.
Morgan Rogers For England
England has many great talents in midfield, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Declan Rice, and Cole Palmer (who sometimes plays in midfield).
It would be nice to see him play as a false nine after Harry Kane retires from international football.
He can then be a strong supporting cast to their talented wingers, like Bukayo Saka, who needs someone to feed him more often in the England squad.
But if you fit him with Harry Kane in the same squad, it would be nice to have Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice behind them more as double 8s, and have him more as a second striker right behind Harry Kane.
Since we know Harry Kane has great link-up play, you can have both of them tear up the opponents’ centres.
Conclusion
Overall, Morgan Rogers is a superb talent, and the England squad is fortunate to have him on their panel.
It’s a matter of how they can properly use him.
England hasn’t been the best at getting the most out of their talents, but if they can use him well, it will really improve their squad.
As for his time at Aston Villa, he’s doing a great job, and Unai Emery is a great coach to learn under, but it’s a bit difficult to see him staying there for long.
That shouldn’t be on his mind for now; I think he can get another good 2–3 years there before jumping ship to a different club to further his career.
