Morgan Rodgers and Mikel Arteta (Photo by Sean Botterill, Carl Lecine/Getty Images)
Arsenal are reportedly confident of a potential transfer deal for Aston Villa attacking midfielder Morgan Rodgers, who has made good progress on his personal terms.
The Gunners still need to reach an agreement with Villa, but there appears to be optimism at the Emirates Stadium about completing the remainder of this deal fairly quickly.
We recently reported that Arsenal have agreed terms with Rodgers. Rodgers is set to pen a five-year deal if he is given permission to move permanently to north London.
TEAMtalk reports that Arsenal are preparing to make their first bid for the England international, which would be higher than Villa’s £100m bid to sell Jack Grealish to Manchester City a few years ago.
Morgan Rodgers appears to be close to joining Arsenal
This is all going in the right direction for Arsenal and things could accelerate once Rodgers returns from the World Cup with England.
There is no doubt that the 23-year-old will be a big loss for Villa, but they have shown in the past that they are capable of recovering well from such a big sale and continuing their rebuild.
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This is a very exciting signing for Arsenal and a significant statement of intent after winning the Premier League title last season.
AFC celebrated winning their first title in 22 years, but they won’t want to stop there after Mikel Arteta’s side lost the Champions League final to Paris Saint-Germain.
Morgan Rodgers can take Arsenal to another level
Arteta was undoubtedly hurt by the defeat against PSG, which probably highlighted the team’s lack of brilliance and quality in the final third.
It was enough to get Arsenal over the line in the title race against Man City, but there were some moments when it looked problematic, especially in big games.
Rodgers, who scored double figures in goals and assists in all competitions for Villa last season and the year before, could be the ideal signing to take the team forward.
Arsenal fans will be hoping the former Middlesbrough youngster can have a transformative effect and bring back a slightly more interesting brand of football to the Emirates.
At times last season it looked like Arteta’s side were just fighting to get over the line and end their trophy drought, but now that they have done that they will surely be expected to play more freely.
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Rodgers has the X-factor to make that happen and has a history of scoring in European finals, as he did in Villa’s Europa League final win over Freiburg.
It’s a similar story with other recent Arsenal players. For example, Declan Rice won the Europa Conference League with West Ham before his move, and Eberechi Eze won the 2025 FA Cup Final against Man City and Crystal Palace, who moved to the Emirates Club a few months later.
