Chelsea target signs new contract which could contain crucial release clause | OneFootball

On a quiet Friday in the Premier League, the biggest news was coming out of Birmingham.

It wasn’t directly Chelsea related – but you don’t have to squint to see the connection.

Rogers signs on for another year at Villa

Morgan Rogers in action for Aston Villa. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Morgan Rogers has been repeatedly linked with moves away from Aston Villa and yesterday signed a new 12 month contract extension at the club. Usually that would end speculation for a while but not in this case.

The Chelsea Chronicle report that Chelsea haven’t been put off in their long term interest in the talented attacking midfielder. Their transfer insider Graeme Bailey said that:

“It’s not an issue for Chelsea or any of his suitors – he has got his reward. And I am told regular football and securing his spot in the World Cup squad was and is his priority heading into 2026.

“The new deal does not change much with Rogers and his future, let’s see how the next 12-months pans out.”

We would also suspect it’s very possible this new deal has a release clause baked into it. That would explain why a shorter term deal makes sense for the player and for Villa. Otherwise we’d be expecting Rogers to be running down his current deal to make a move to a top team easier to pull off.

It still feels we’re a long way off a Chelsea move happening – but it doesn’t feel like this weekend’s news changed anything.

In other news…

Chelsea’s set piece battle against Wolves today is going to be fascinating, and manager Enzo Maresca was asked whether he would be repeating the tactic he used against Tottenham a week ago to counteract the threat from set pieces.

Another major topic in the presser was Romeo Lavia, whose constant injury problems are affecting the whole squad, and not just him now. Maresca admitted it was becoming a problem.