Chelsea dropped ‘serious’ transfer interest in Morgan Rogers to focus on signing Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho, according to reports.
The Blues paid United £40m to land Garnacho in August but had been looking at a number of other wingers, with Rogers one of their key targets.
Rogers, who has nine caps for the England national team, is valued £100m by Aston Villa and has been in fine form for Unai Emery’s side recently.
The 23-year-old has three goals involvements across his last four Premier League games, scoring in the 2-1 win over Tottenham earlier this month.
Rogers also provided assists in Villa’s victories over Fulham and Burnley in the top-flight – but Chelsea overlooked a move for him to recruit Garnacho.
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Chelsea had ‘serious interest’ in Morgan Rogers
‘Chelsea had a serious interest in Morgan Rogers,’ football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano revealed on his YouTube channel.
‘But [Rogers] never became a concrete topic because Chelsea decided to go very strong for Alejandro Garnacho.
‘At the beginning of the summer window, end of May, beginning of June, Chelsea had some conversations to understand the situation of Morgan Rogers.’
But Chelsea ended up bringing in Garnacho, who scored his first goal for the Blues in the 2-1 home defeat to Sunderland on Saturday.
Alejandro Garnacho explains Chelsea move
Garnacho has opened up about his decision to swap United for Chelsea in a new interview this week.
‘Obviously, in my last season at United, with the new manager, there were a lot of changes in the situation at the club and it was a bit difficult,’ the Argentina international told Sports Illustrated.
‘I still played a lot of games last season, mainly from the start or sometimes from the bench.
‘But when I spoke with this club, with the manager, it’s important also the style of play we have now.
‘He explained a lot to me in a video call with him, so I think it was a very important move for me and an opportunity to improve as a player in a team like Chelsea.’
