Aston Villa deal saw Middlesbrough bank £2.5m per month but hurt promotion chances | OneFootball

Morgan Rogers signed for Middlesbrough in July 2023 and departed for Aston Villa in January 2024

The sale of Morgan Rogers from Middlesbrough to Aston Villa earned the club a huge transfer profit on a player, who spent just six months at the Riverside.

However, the £16 million transfer, via Sky Sports, ultimately hurt Michael Carrick’s side amid their push for promotion to the Premier League.

Rogers signed for Boro from Manchester City in the summer of 2023 in a deal worth a reported £1 million and would go on to make £2.5m profit for every month he was at the Riverside.

The forward had spent the previous campaign on loan with Blackpool, with the Seasiders suffering relegation to League One.

And while the 22-year-old did have a slow start to life with the Teesside outfit, he ultimately grew into his role in Carrick’s side and was proving a key part of their climb back up the Championship table.

Morgan Rogers’ sale to Aston Villa

However, this form led to Aston Villa showing an interest in his signature, with a deal worth up to £16 million agreed between the two teams.

It was a short-lived spell with Boro, but he showed a lot of potential in that small span of time, contributing two goals and six assists from 26 appearances in the second division.

Carrick’s side had a difficult start to the campaign, having lost a lot of key players during the off-season, such as Chuba Akpom, Ryan Giles and Cameron Archer.

But by the end of January, Middlesbrough were back up to 11th, just four points adrift of the play-off places.

Had Rogers remained with the club, it’s easy to imagine a world where he plays a big role in helping the team leapfrog the likes of Hull City and Norwich City to earn a place in the play-offs for a second-year running.

Instead, Middlesbrough came eighth in the standings and missed out on a second consecutive top-six finish by only four points.

Of his two goals and six assists, he scored one and assisted five in his final eight league appearances for the club – leaving Boro fans wondering what he could have achieved in the second half of the campaign had he stayed.

Rogers sale can be a warning for Middlesbrough

Had Rogers stayed at Middlesbrough beyond that January, there is no doubt that he also could have retained his transfer value into the summer.

Losing such a key figure midway through the campaign proved disruptive and cost the team in their bid for a place back in the Premier League.

Rogers had a contract until the summer of 2027, meaning there was no immediate need to sell the young star.

While the figure of £16 million is a huge profit after such a short amount of time with the team, that could have even potentially risen had he maintained his form going into January 2024 by helping the Teesside outfit finish inside the top six.

There is a lesson for Boro to be learned there about the balance between offering players a pathway to a bigger move, which Aston Villa did represent, and not hurting the club’s own ambitions.

The January window is tricky, so losing a big part of the team is always going to be hard to replace midway through a campaign.

Rogers has shown at Aston Villa that he was ready to make the leap to the Premier League, and he has even performed well in the Champions League under Unai Emery.

But Boro will be watching on and wondering what could’ve been had they had more time with the 22-year-old.