Morgan Rogers will finalise his move once he returns from the United States, having been part of the England squad that recorded its best World Cup finish since 1966.<\/p>\n
His arrival gives Alonso another major attacking option at the start of a new era for Chelsea. After a season in which the club went through several managers and missed out on European football for 2026-27, there remains strong belief that BlueCo will keep pushing the team back towards the top of the Premier League under Alonso.<\/p>\n
Rogers\u2019s Premier League record is already notable, and his ability to play in different roles gives the new head coach several possibilities. One likely outcome is that Cole Palmer stays in the No. 10 role, with Rogers able to operate from the left. Chelsea lacked much in wide areas last season, with the exception of the emerging Est\u00eav\u00e3o, so the Englishman could bring a sharper edge there.<\/p>\n
Although Rogers made his name at Villa Park playing off Ollie Watkins, he has spent more senior minutes as a left winger than in any other position. That does not mean he is a conventional touchline winger. He often drifted inside in a narrow system, but he is still effective wide when the structure around him suits his game. He combines well, adds speed and can help Chelsea progress attacks from the flank.<\/p>\n
He is not the type to simply stay wide all game, but in the right setup he can be productive there. Palmer, meanwhile, tends to drift towards the right and cut onto his left foot, though Rogers\u2019s presence could encourage him to roam even more. Rogers is unlikely to remove Palmer from the side, but Alonso may choose to use Palmer wide right in certain matches, especially if he wants Rogers closer to Jo\u00e3o Pedro.<\/p>\n
Rogers also offers power in transition. He makes intelligent runs, stretches defences and carries the ball with purpose. In central areas, he can drive through the middle, even if his passing lacks some precision. Alonso reportedly presented the Chelsea project with Rogers starting at left wing, though there is also scope for him to operate as a nominal No. 10.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s summer business also points towards a back three, with Marco Pelestra expected to thrive as a wingback. Alonso has used both a back four and a back three in his career, but his strongest work came with three centre backs. That setup could also allow Rogers and Palmer to work together again, with the pair\u2019s long-standing bond dating back to their time in Manchester City\u2019s academy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rogers gives Alonso options, with Chelsea considering left wing, No. 10 and a back-three system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,1383],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-chelsea-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}