Pep Guardiola glimpse, cup win - how Man City 'missed' Morgan Rogers

Morgan Rogers never made the grade at Manchester City but is one of the stars of the Premier League now.

Manchester City will come face to face with another of the players they let go when they face Aston Villa. Morgan Rogers did little at the Etihad to impress Pep Guardiola yet now looks like exactly the sort of player that would improve the current squad.

It's been a familiar accusation hurled at City as a club that did/do have an excellent record of generating large sums for young talent have seen some of it flourish at their own expense. Some players slipped through the net, others simply have excelled where they would not have done at City.

The outstanding performances from Cole Palmer for Chelsea last season really set the narrative off, and this year even Brahim Diaz scored to help knock the Blues out of the Champions League. At Villa Park in December, Rogers was the outstanding midfielder in a game that included Phil Foden.

How did it get to this, then? Why did City let a player go who could have been so brilliant for them?

Guardiola admitted at the weekend that the player had shown glimpses of his potential when he trained with the first team. He was good enough to start the FA Youth Cup final in 2020 and scored in a memorable 3-2 triumph over Chelsea in a team that contained several stellar names.

Yet the consistency wasn't there, especially up against the talent that was in Guardiola's squad, and that was replicated at first team level elsewhere. A promising loan spell at Lincoln earned him a move to Championship promotion contenders Bournemouth, only for him to flop so badly there they didn't include him in their squad for the second half of the season.

Rogers couldn't even get another move so had to return to playing Under-21s football at the City Football Academy, wondering where his career would take him next. Middlesbrough was the answer, and he wasn't there for long before Unai Emery spotted the blossoming of a player that he could take to the next level and realise his potential.

As Rogers himself said in March after being called up to the England squad: “I wasn’t good enough, simple as that. I wasn’t ready.

"I wasn't ready to be there, I wasn't myself. I wasn't the person that they signed in terms of what they expected me to go on and be. Yeah, it wasn't the right player at the right time for me or the club.

"At the age groups when I was younger, I was considered one of the better ones, for sure, so everyone thought I was going to accelerate probably quickly; just that stepping stone when I moved to City everyone was talking about that move and 'the next academy player at Man City' kind of thing, the next person to come up."

All eyes will be on Rogers to see if he can hurt the club that have been proven right about his ability, just not to their benefit.

--

Here at The Manchester Evening News, we're dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.

Make sure you don't miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get the club's breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.

You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day's biggest stories.

And, finally, if you'd rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.