Aston Villa have made some superb signings under Unai Emery since the Spaniard took charge of the club back in October 2022. He has overseen four transfer windows as Villans boss so far, spending a few hundred million to strengthen the squad.
That has certainly paid off, with the Midlands club now competing for the top four and in the Champions League.
The most expensive player the former Arsenal boss has signed during his tenure at Villa Park was Amadou Onana. The Belgian midfielder cost £50m from Premier League rivals Everton. The Villans have also signed Jhon Duran from Chicago Fire and Pau Torres from Villarreal.
Arguably Emery’s best signing as Villa manager, however, is Morgan Rogers.
Rogers’ stats for Villa
Since making the move to Villa Park in January 2024, versatile attacker Rogers has been a revelation for the club. He left Championship side Middlesbrough to join Villa, in a deal worth an initial £8m, but with the potential to rise to £16m with add-ons.
It has been an exceptional start to life in the Midlands for the Manchester City academy graduate. Rogers has quickly become a key player under Emery and is now a regular starter in both the Premier League and the Champions League.
So far for the Villans, he has played 30 times and already has six goals and four assists to his name. This term in the Premier League, the 22-year-old has been in impressive form, with five goal involvements so far.
Competition
Games
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Premier League (2023/24)
11
641
3
1
Europa Conference League (2023/24)
5
339
0
0
Premier League (2024/25)
10
813
3
2
Champions League (2024/25)
4
334
0
1
There have certainly been plenty of high-profile people who have taken notice of the electric attacker. One of those is former Liverpool defender turned pundit Jamie Carragher. Earlier in the season, he described the Villa number 27 as a “machine”, explaining that he looks “unstoppable” when he dribbles.
Rogers is hitting new heights each week and continues to excel in that famous Claret and Blue shirt. His value has risen to £18.2m as per Transfermarkt, exceeding the price he cost the Midlands club.
With that being said, there is a former Villans loanee who is also having an impressive season and is now worth even more than their star man.
The former Villa star worth more than Rogers
One of the biggest cult heroes at Villa Park in recent years was Tammy Abraham. He was a pivotal figure in their promotion success back in 2018/19 when he spent a year on loan at the club from Chelsea.
That season was simply phenomenal for the Cobham graduate. He scored 25 goals in 37 Championship games, and a further strike in the play-offs as the Villans won promotion by beating Derby County at Wembley.
Four of those finishes came in a hectic 5-5 draw at home to Nottingham Forest.
Since his loan at Villa Park expired, the striker has gone on to play for some big European clubs. Of course, he returned to Chelsea where he played for a few seasons, before moving to Italy. Abraham joined Roma from his boyhood club, and impressed despite missing a season with a bad injury.
For the duration of the 2024/25 campaign, the 27-year-old is on loan at Milan. He has scored once and has two assists to his name in seven Serie A appearances, although has played just 355 minutes. That is the equivalent of 3.9 full 90 minute games. With three goal involvements in just over three full games, his numbers are stacking up well.
With that in mind, the striker, who was described as an “outstanding” player by football statistician Statman Dave, is now valued higher than Rogers.
According to Transfermarkt, Abraham is worth £20.7m, although that has dropped given he missed a season with injury.
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Looking back on it, Villa fans surely wish they had tried to keep the deadly marksman, who has shown impressive form and is now playing for one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
They can only dream of how many goals he would’ve scored for the club if he had stayed at Villa Park longer.
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