Aston Villa rebuffed in bid for Morgan Rogers as Unai Emery targets winger

Aston Villa recently made an offer to sign forward Morgan Rogers, but it was turned down by Middlesbrough. The reason for the refusal is that Unai Emery, head coach of Middlesbrough, wants to improve his team's attacking strength and Rogers is a key player. Although Villa sees Rogers as their top priority this transfer period, Middlesbrough outright denied their first offer. It is unclear at this point whether Aston Villa will come back with a better bid to acquire Rogers.

The youngster, who is 21 years old, has done exceptionally well for the team led by Michael Carrick. He showed his talents off when playing against Villa in the FA Cup earlier this month. Rogers started his career at West Brom but was recruited by Manchester City in 2019. He later went on loan to Lincoln, Bournemouth, and Blackpool. Then, last summer, he signed a permanent deal with Boro. This season, he has made 25 appearances in the league, scoring two goals.

The Villa team has been searching for a winger for quite some time now, and they even considered following Norwich's star Jonathan Rowe this season. Meanwhile, Emery has always been interested in Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams, but unfortunately, the 21-year-old had already extended his contract with San Mamés.

It is rumoured that Villa is looking to add a right-back player to their team to compete with Matty Cash. However, Ezri Konsa, who was called up to the England squad for the first time in November last year, has been playing at full-back this season.

The team is preparing to officially acquire Kosta Nedeljkovic, a talented 18-year-old right-back from Red Star Belgrade, for a whopping £6.5 million. However, he will remain on loan at his home club for the remainder of the season. In the meantime, Kaine Kesler-Hayden may serve as a backup option after being called back from his loan spell at Plymouth during the first half of the season.

Villa is considering transferring players Calum Chambers, Kortney Hause, Leander Dendoncker, Tim Iroegbunam, and Bertrand Traoré, who is currently playing in the Africa Cup of Nations with Burkina Faso. They want to make some changes to their team. Recently, Villa allowed Finn Azaz to join Middlesbrough with a permanent deal worth £2.5 million and lent defender Ben Chrisene to Blackburn.