Two Things That Would Help Aston Villa Keep Morgan Rogers
The clubs circling Morgan Rogers this summer are not acting on transfer intelligence alone. They are acting on financial intelligence.
Aston Villa’s UEFA Football Earnings agreement – reached following the club’s breach of European club licensing regulations – essentially operates on a sell-before-you-buy basis. Villa cannot register new signings unless their transfer balance is positive. The settlement target for 2026/27 is effectively zero: outgoings must match or exceed incomings. Any club that understands this also understands that Villa’s hand can be forced. If the price is right, the sale becomes possible in a way it otherwise would not be.
Rogers, at 23 and under contract until 2031, is the most commercially attractive asset on Villa’s books. His talent, age profile, and trajectory make him the player a sale-driven rebuild would centre on, the fee he would generate could fund a significant portion of whatever comes next. Emiliano Martínez represents a different kind of asset: a world-class player whose exit would be harder to frame as progress.
Unai Emery’s position is that he does not want Rogers to leave. That matters, but preference is not policy, and policy at Villa this summer is shaped by a UEFA agreement that does not bend for sentiment. The question is whether Villa can engineer the financial breathing room that makes keeping Rogers viable. There are two developments, one a potential player sale, one dependent on a legal ruling, that could shift the needle.
Find a Buyer for Guéssand
Evann Guéssand arrived at Villa on the back of data that looked compelling. French football writers were drawing comparisons with Didier Drogba, though the honest reading of those comparisons was that they were primarily about his physical attributes and Ivorian nationality rather than any technical equivalence.
What Villa have seen since points to a rawness to Guéssand’s game that the data did not fully capture, and perhaps not fit for a club competing in the Champions League. After loaning him to Crystal Palace, Villa were close to recapturing their outlay on him, until Oliver Glasner’s resignation from the Eagles effectively ended a more permanent outcome for the loan deal.
Villa will be hoping the World Cup gives Guéssand the minutes and the stage to shift perceptions. International exposure, particularly if Ivory Coast progress, could raise the kind of interest that makes a permanent sale achievable. The fee target would be around the initial £26m fee Villa originally paid.
The wages question is significant, as it has been with other squad members. Leon Bailey’s salary has complicated permanent options, with Villa having to loan him out. Guéssand’s wages are not believed to be at the same level, making a permanent move, most likely to another Premier League club where salaries can be matched, more realistic than it would otherwise be.
A summer sale at or near the original fee would give Villa meaningful transfer market wiggle room to build on within their UEFA agreement.
Win FIFA Appeal
In January, Villa signed teenage forward Brian Madjo from Metz for £10m. They have not been able to register the 17-year-old since.
FIFA rejected the registration on the grounds that Madjo is under 18 and joining from an overseas club — a transfer prohibited under Article 19 of FIFA’s regulations, which restricts international moves below that age (Brexit hasn’t helped here). Villa are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with a hearing scheduled for 1 July. If the appeal fails, they cannot register Madjo until he turns 18 in January 2027.
Emery is understood to be keen to integrate and nurture Madjo into the first-team squad next season. Despite his age, Madjo is already a powerhouse in terms of physical profile, mirroring the likes of Wesley and Jhon Durán in being built beyond their years. There is the potential for the striker to get minutes in the first team already, although he wouldn’t expect to be a starter just yet.
The significance is as much financial as footballing. Madjo’s £10m fee is already spent, already absorbed into the accounts. He is an existing asset currently sitting unused. A successful CAS ruling brings a new forward into the squad without triggering any additional spend. In a summer where every pound of transfer activity is measured against a UEFA compliance target, a player who costs nothing to activate is a big help.
It would give Emery a third striking squad option, reducing the pressure to pursue an additional attacking signing, and preserves just enough financial room to make keeping his most important player feel like a choice rather than a forced hand.
The maths shifts in Villa’s favour if both situations play out. If Guéssand finds a buyer and CAS rules in Villa’s favour, Emery potentially keeps one of his most important players with financial architecture to still add. If neither happens, the pressure from outside increases, and the clubs already circling will know it.
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