Sources explain how Xabi Alonso persuaded Morgan Rogers to choose Chelsea | OneFootball

Morgan Rogers was Chelsea’s big addition this summer, and the story of how he came to Stamford Bridge is an interesting one.

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Chelsea play Arsenal today in their first top 6 clash of the season, a perfect time to point out how close Morgan Rogers was to going to the Gunners before the Blues made the decisive move.

Simon Johnson’s piece for the Athletic is all about that – he traces the transfer all the way back to two years ago, when Chelsea were first interested but ended up losing out to Aston Villa, who were already deep in negotiations with Middlesbrough.

Rogers’ call with incoming Alonso sealed the deal

Morgan Rogers (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

The whole piece is worth a read, but we were especially interested in what persuaded Rogers to pick Chelsea when he knew Arsenal were interested. A big part of it, apparently, was Xabi Alonso.

“[Rogers] came away from their conversation thinking Xabi Alonso is the real deal,” a source at Chelsea said of the discussions between the two.

Alonso’s passion was part of it, as was his detailed tactical plan for how he was going to use the 23 year old. Meanwhile Arsenal stuck to their £80m valuation. Chelsea weren’t afraid to blow past that – we will soon find out who made the right call on that one.

In other news…

Gary Neville is making big claims about Chelsea this season, saying that we’ve already got a better attack than Arsenal after our summer upgrades.

Also on Sky’s pre game, Daniel Sturridge was backing Chelsea big time this year. But he knows a weakness that could stop them challenging for the title.