Explained: Why Manchester City cannot buy back £100M-rated Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa | OneFootball

Manchester City do not hold a buy-back option for Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers, despite having sold the England international earlier in his career.

Rogers came through the Manchester City academy before departing the Etihad Stadium without a senior appearance, joining Middlesbrough in July 2023.

Six months on, the England international moved to Aston Villa, where he has since established himself as one of the most dynamic and sought-after attacking midfielders in Europe after an eye-catching few seasons under Unai Emery.

City’s decision to sell Rogers directly to Middlesbrough – rather than to Villa – means no buy-back clause was inserted into a deal that now looks increasingly costly in hindsight.

Any move to bring the 23-year-old back to the Etihad Stadium would require Aston Villa’s agreement and a fee that is currently understood to be in the region of £100 million.

No buy-back clause, City must pay the market rate

Had City sold Rogers directly to Villa, there may have been scope to negotiate a buy-back option into the deal.

The fact that the transfer was structured via Middlesbrough as an intermediary step means no such mechanism exists, leaving City in the same position as Arsenal, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, who have all been reported to be monitoring Rogers’ situation.

Villa are understood to have no desire to sell and hold the England international under contract until 2031 – a combination that gives Emery’s side maximum leverage in any negotiations.

Rogers himself is not pushing for a move and retains a close relationship with the Villa coaching staff following the club’s UEFA Europa League triumph in the recent season.

What is the wider context for City’s interest?

Rogers scored 14 goals and provided 12 assists for Villa in all competitions last season – numbers that make him one of the most productive attacking midfielders in the Premier League and an ideal fit for the kind of dynamic, box-to-box profile incoming Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca is understood to favour.

The absence of a buy-back clause simply means City will have to do this the hard way – competing on the open market against a number of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Whoever goes on to win the race for Rogers will need to convince Aston Villa to sell a player they want to keep, meeting a valuation that reflects just how far Rogers has come since leaving the Etihad Stadium without a single senior appearance to his name. It is, in every sense, the most expensive kind of regret in modern football.