Pep Guardiola has acknowledged he may have made a mistake letting Morgan Rogers leave Manchester City, praising the Aston Villa star as an “exceptional” talent ahead of their crucial Premier League clash.
Rogers, now 22, joined Manchester City at 17 but never made a senior appearance for the club. After loan spells at Lincoln City, Bournemouth, and Blackpool, he was sold to Middlesbrough in 2023. A standout season in the Championship quickly saw him earn a £15m move to Aston Villa, where he’s flourished under Unai Emery.
This season, Rogers has emerged as one of Villa’s key players. He’s not only helped the club reach the Champions League knockout stages and FA Cup semi-finals but also earned four England caps and a call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s national squad after scoring a Champions League hat-trick.
Ahead of Villa’s showdown with Man City on Tuesday, Guardiola reflected on Rogers’ departure. “He was in the second team and trained with us sometimes, and we could see something there,” the City boss said. “But the impact he’s had at Villa, what a player — we had an exceptional player here, absolutely.”
Villa currently sit just one point behind Manchester City, who are clinging to fifth place — the final Champions League qualification spot. With so much at stake, Rogers will be eager to make a statement against his former club.
Guardiola also expressed admiration for Villa as a team, particularly after their performances against PSG in the Champions League, saying: “They are contenders for the Champions League. You see both games against PSG — wow, I was really, really impressed.”
Rogers joins a growing list of former City players who have thrived elsewhere, including Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens, and Julian Alvarez — the latter now at Atletico Madrid and already touted as a “future Ballon d’Or winner.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola touched on his squad dynamics, revealing he feels he’s been “unfair” to Jeremy Doku. “Without him, we wouldn’t have won key games like against Spurs or Brighton,” he said. “Jeremy in the final third is unstoppable — an incredible player.”
As City and Villa prepare for a match with major top-four implications, all eyes will be on Rogers — a rising star determined to show his old club what they lost.