Morgan Rogers #17

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Rogers says his loan spells at Lincoln, Bournemouth and Blackpool – before his move to Middlesbrough in 2023 – “were everything to me”. He told The Times: “I had to go through a lot of struggles, a lot of pain, a lot of hard days … I had to find myself as a player, and I had to find that out in the lower leagues – what works in a professional game – because what works in [Man City] academy football is not the same in League One or the Championship.” He moved to Villa for £8m in 2024. He says he was “a bit of a geek for football knowledge” as a boy: “Learning players, learning teams and stuff. Me and my dad were quite big on it – he’d ask me questions and I’d answer them. I’d be able to name random players across the world and stuff. I’d try and be the cleverest person in the room when it came to football.” He has multiple tattoos, including one on his left forearm listing the birthdays of his parents and three brothers. “That is my favourite one. My most sentimental one.”

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