With Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta finally achieving his dream of lifting the Premier League title as we saw off Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side in the 2025/26 campaign and did not succumb to slipping into second place and the runners up spot, well, it has been quite a bright and breezy summer so far for Gunners fans up and down the country.
The triple hosted 2026 World Cup out in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico, is proving itself to be a nice distraction before attentions turn once again to the coming season and our title defence campaign. There is something for every Arsenal fan right now from controversial water breaks, to the efforts taken to avoid empty Stadiums and even a few Emirates Stadium stars on display for their countries – including in Thomas Tuchel’s England selections.
A little closer to home, closer than new betting sites in Ireland, we have a very familiar story when it comes to the transfer window and the standard wild speculation rumour mill, and Aston Villa talent Morgan Rogers is said to feature heavily on our target shortlist.
After all the previous nonsense involving Ollie Watkins, now the likes of TalkSport are doubling down in our apparent interest in the 23 year old England attacker, and if their claims are right, we are already in talks with his representatives and we feel that those conversations are going well enough to ask Declan Rice to start putting in good words and nudging him whilst they are both out on international duty.
Of course, Villa are yet to receive an offer for the player who has absolutely thrived under the coaching of former Arsenal manager Unai Emery, and we are yet to even register a formal interest and make contact with the Villa Park outfit.
With plenty of speculation linking him with a move this summer and even French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain said to have an interest in him, ballpark guesses given the shape of the current market in recent years has him valued at £100 million on the low side – matching the record fee the Midlands side secured with the record transfer of Jack Grealish to the Etihad Stadium a good few season ago.
Reports state that we are planning a £70 million move, just as they suggested we woefully undercut Watkins’ rateable value back when we supposedly had an interest in him. We all knew what Watkins could do for our frontline, but we also knew we would never pay what Villa wanted for a player they could not replace until the summer, and at his age. Rogers is slightly different, but with him there is the small issue of who would he replace and where would he fit in game time wise?
Having now proven himself with Villa and impressed for England, he will want the regular starter role and looking across all positions, we are already well stocked unless we are actively looking to shift a considered key player on.
It would be a big expenditure for squad rotation, especially for a player who is already said to prefer a move abroad if one happens. A move is also not being forced, nor wide open and on the agenda this summer with a Champions League return already secured after their Europa League victory.
For now this can probably be filed in the TalkSport bin with a reminder to not feed trolls.
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