Aston Villa reportedly want £130 million from Arsenal for Morgan Rogers, and the price owes a lot to Manchester City’s deal for Elliot Anderson. A number of UK outlets have written that Villa think Rogers is the better player and are pricing him accordingly if Arsenal want him this summer.
City closed on a £116 million fee with Nottingham Forest for Anderson. A few days earlier, executives at rival clubs had worried that a fee of £130 million, the figure then being mooted, would inflate the whole market. The lower number did not settle anyone, according to the Manchester Evening News. It is not a British record, and it is only £11 million more than Arsenal paid for Declan Rice three years ago. Liverpool paid the same amount for Florian Wirtz last year.
Hugo Viana, City’s sporting director, has landed his main midfield target ahead of rival clubs, and he did it while Anderson was busy at the World Cup. City did not get in the way of England’s plans but used a light touch to finish the deal anyway.
Arsenal’s problem
Arsenal could point out that Anderson is in the England team and Rogers is not, or lean on a number of statistics from last season. The Manchester Evening News still called it a headache for Mikel Arteta and his recruitment staff. Whether Anderson is good value or not, his fee has become the benchmark for midfielders this window, and clubs that do not want to sell their best players are already using it to scare off bidders.
Manchester United and Tottenham are also shopping for midfielders. Chelsea may have to act if Enzo Fernandez gets the move he has been open to.
City took last season’s title race to the final week but could not catch Arsenal, who won the league for the first time in 22 years. Anderson is part of City’s plan to get back on top under new manager Enzo Maresca. Finishing the deal so early takes pressure off City in the market and adds it for their rivals.
