The rise of Morgan Rogers: ‘Unai Emery drags the best out of you – he battered me over one little thing’

A manager imported at considerable expense tends to be demanding, his high standards and attention to detail rendering him a perfectionist. So Morgan Rogers can testify. The Aston Villa attacking midfielder is a rookie at international level, but 14 months under Unai Emery could serve as a fine grounding for his time playing for Thomas Tuchel and England.

Emery has enabled a footballer who was relegated from the Championship two years ago to score a Champions League hat-trick this season. He has taken Rogers to levels few envisaged; certainly not Manchester City when they sold him in 2023. He has done it, a grateful Rogers grins, by always wanting more.

“Never a moment’s rest,” he said. “When you probably least expect it is where he'll catch you out, telling you about yourself. For me personally, I wouldn't change it. It's what you need sometimes, when you've had a few good games, sometimes you might not be as at it, that 1 per cent. He will make sure that 1 per cent is nipped in the bud straight away. He always drags the best out of you.

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“Probably when you first come into the dressing room you don't take it the best way, you don't know how to handle it. You come in the changing room really happy, and then he'll just have a go at you about something.

“I can think of the best games I've had, and he'll come up to me and batter me for one little thing I did in the 20th minute... I go home annoyed, and I'd thought I'd played pretty well. That's how he is.”

And so to life under Tuchel. The German introduced himself by video call a month or two ago and kept in regular touch, letting Rogers know which Villa games he would be at. The 22-year-old won his first two caps under the caretaker Lee Carsley. He made the cut for Tuchel and the German has made quite an impression on him as England prepare to face Albania at Wembley in Friday’s World Cup qualifier.

“The presence is a bit different,” he said. “Certain managers have different ways about them. Certainly his aura is one I’ve not experienced before. He has that level of confidence, that level of respect already. You can see the way he is, the way he acts. He has been so chilled and calm. But when it is time to work, it is time to work.”

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Rogers is a good talker, engaging and interested, thoughtful and witty. Tuchel believes England need to get better at talking, especially in difficult moments. “The communication aspect,” Rogers highlighted, detailing Tuchel’s early message. “When momentum shifts in a game, we stick together. It’s not going to go perfect. We’re playing the best teams in the world, the best players in the world; we’re not going to be on top every game. We’d like to be, but that’s not how football works, regardless of how good you are and what team you’re in.”

That explains in part Tuchel’s most controversial choice, the recall of the vocal veteran Jordan Henderson. Rogers is encountering the 2019 Champions League-winning captain for the first time. “There is a massive level of respect and that sense of how much of a leader he is,” he said. “You can see how he pushes people on. Squads are all about balance. You can’t have a group of 25 young players who’ve never had any experience before.”

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He is better acquainted with another who was brought out of the cold. Marcus Rashford is back on international duty, reaping an early reward for joining Rogers at Villa. “I think he has always got that confidence and belief he would get back here, maybe not as quick because it feels like he has only been at Villa for a week,” smiled Rogers.

He welcomed the arrival of a man who he could have viewed as a rival for his place. “When we go into games, no one is worrying about me,” he said, self-deprecatingly given his own excellence. “It is nice because everyone is scared of everything he can do. He is a joy to play with and a joy to work with and for Villa to attract players of that level shows the level we are going.”

That journey has taken them to the Champions League quarter-finals. Get past Paris Saint-Germain and it could lead to a reunion in the second city, with Jude Bellingham, a friend for years. “That would be good... I don't think he'd enjoy going to Villa Park much,” said Rogers of the Birmingham prodigy.

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They go way back, to a floodlit tournament, at Under-15 level, with Rogers representing West Bromwich Albion and Bellingham playing above his age group for Birmingham. The Real Madrid superstar was fast-tracked to the senior England team. Rogers took more of a roundabout route.

“Some people can go straight to the top and fit in. I needed games in the EFL to mould me and improve me. I needed to go through those difficult periods to find out about myself as a person and as a player,” he said. “We've had a really good relationship. Our careers and paths have been completely different but [we have] always been in contact along the journey, which is really nice. It makes it a bit sweeter.”

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Bellingham referenced that long-time friendship with a picture of the pair together in England youth teams. Rogers joked that his mate hasn’t changed. “He's always had a mouth on him,” he said. And if they do face each other again in the last of the Champions League, there may be a good omen for Emery and Villa if Bellingham plays. “He's never beaten me,” said Rogers.