{"id":40025,"date":"2026-07-21T17:05:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:05:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:05:41","slug":"morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Morgan Rodgers immediately hits Chelsea over Arsenal transfer hijacking | Soccer | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>He has signed a six-year contract with Chelsea and will stay with him until the summer of 2032. The move would see Rodgers overtake Elliott Anderson as the most expensive player in British history, but he would be forced to compromise as soon as he joined the Blues. That&#8217;s because the number 27 he wore at Villa is already occupied by Maro Gusto, so he will have to choose a different number.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>There are plenty of options for Rodgers to choose from, including the number 16 jersey worn by Leslie Ugochukwu at Chelsea. He may decide to wear number 17 or 18, both of which are vacant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Alternatively, he could choose the next closest option to his desired No. 27, choosing No. 26, which has become available since Levi Colwill changed his jersey number at the start of last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Regardless of his jersey number, Rodgers will be under enormous pressure to perform at Chelsea, given his transfer fee and reputation as one of the best forwards in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>He becomes the second most expensive player in the history of England&#8217;s top flight, behind Alexander Isak, who joined Liverpool from Newcastle last summer for \u00a3125 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Arsenal were initially expected to be in pole position to sign Rodgers, who scored 14 goals for Villa in all competitions last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>But the north Londoners lost out to Chelsea for his signature, who came out of nowhere at the weekend to seal the deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It&#8217;s a real statement of intent from the Blues, who are embarking on a new era under head coach Xabi Alonso, who is said to have been the deciding factor in convincing Rodgers to join.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>At Chelsea, he is likely to play on the left wing, with Cole Palmer in the centre. His old club Middlesbrough will receive a transfer fee of around \u00a320m due to his sell-on clause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/2231381\/Morgan-Rogers-Chelsea-Arsenal-transfer\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He has signed a six-year contract with Chelsea and will stay with him until the summer of 2032. The move would see Rodgers overtake Elliott Anderson as the most expensive player in British history, but he would be forced to compromise as soon as he joined the Blues. That&#8217;s because the number 27 he wore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matches"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Morgan Rodgers immediately hits Chelsea over Arsenal transfer hijacking | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Morgan Rodgers immediately hits Chelsea over Arsenal transfer hijacking | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He has signed a six-year contract with Chelsea and will stay with him until the summer of 2032. The move would see Rodgers overtake Elliott Anderson as the most expensive player in British history, but he would be forced to compromise as soon as he joined the Blues. That&#8217;s because the number 27 he wore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-21T17:05:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/\",\"name\":\"Morgan Rodgers immediately hits Chelsea over Arsenal transfer hijacking | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7053168.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T17:05:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7053168.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7053168.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/morgan-rodgers-immediately-hits-chelsea-over-arsenal-transfer-hijacking-soccer-sports\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Morgan Rodgers immediately hits Chelsea over Arsenal transfer hijacking | Soccer | Sports\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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