West Brom face £117m transfer regret | OneFootball

Morgan Rogers was a product of the West Brom academy and is now one of the most expensive footballers of all time

There are always football clubs that will look at their former academy players excelling elsewhere and wish they could have overseen that development further and reaped the rewards of their talent.

West Brom must look back at their inability to stop Manchester City from taking Morgan Rogers away from them in the summer of 2019 with real envy, as just seven years later, the 24-year-old became the most expensive British footballer of all time, signing for Chelsea for £117 million.

The Baggies have begun the 2026/27 campaign perfectly, with some young stars from their academy and those who have signed from others this summer performing well for the club.

But there'll always have been some 'what if's' surrounding Rogers and whether he could have banked West Brom some serious profit if he was allowed to continue developing at the Hawthorns.

Morgan Rogers made his professional debut at West Brom

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Indeed, Rogers, who grew up just eight miles away from the Hawthorns in Halesowen, joined boyhood club West Brom at the age of seven and progressed through their academy.

He had a couple of years with the under-18s and one season at under-21 level in the PL2, where he scored five and assisted four in 12 appearances, even captaining the side in their final game against Southampton.

That same season, in 2018/19, he also made his professional debut and his senior bow for the Baggies. He was an unused substitute for an EFL Cup tie earlier on in the campaign, but got the call off the bench in the FA Cup fourth round replay against Brighton and Hove Albion.

The then-16-year-old took the place of Wes Hoolahan, as the Baggies lost after extra time.

Manchester City signed Morgan Rodgers in the summer of 2019

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Unfortunately, that solitary bench appearance in the FA Cup would be Rogers' only one for the first team at the Hawthorns, as Manchester City came calling later that summer, and their weeks-long pursuit paid off.

It was quite a difficult summer in terms of losing highly-rated academy stars that summer at West Brom, as the Baggies also lost Louie Barry to Barcelona a few weeks earlier.

At the time, the 16-year-old wide forward would probably have been the man tipped to be sold for £117 million, especially given that Rogers never tore up too many trees at Manchester City.

He posted a lesser goal return in the PL2 with City and would be loaned out three times to League One and Championship clubs.

He netted six in 25 for Lincoln City in the 2020/21 campaign, helping them reach the third-tier play-off final, but would spend the following two campaigns struggling in the second tier. His time at Bournemouth saw him play just 220 league minutes, while he netted just once in the second half of the 2022/23 campaign at Blackpool.

Morgan Rogers' last three years and how he came to be worth £117 million

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Coming off of that 2022/23 season where he was ineffective for a Blackpool side who would be relegated from the Championship, it's quite remarkable to think that three years later he'd be breaking records by signing for Chelsea.

West Brom were especially feeling that they perhaps dodged the bullet by allowing him to leave when they did.

Manchester City were evidently ready to give up on him after that spell on the Fylde coast, as they sanctioned an exit for the attacking midfielder to Middlesbrough that summer, but it was at the Riverside under Michael Carrick when Rogers began to showcase his talent.

He netted seven and assisted eight in 33 games for Boro in the first half of the 2023/24 term, which prompted Aston Villa to sign him, just months after he'd left the Premier League to join the Teesiders. Villa spent up to £16 million on his services.

His first half-season at Villa Park was quite low-key, but his first full campaign saw him explode into life. Rogers was a threat in the Premier League and in Europe, registering 27 goal contributions, with a hat trick in the Champions League against Celtic contributing.

And while he only managed 25 goal contributions last season, he played a key role in his side's run to lifting the Europa League and was one of the form players heading into the World Cup this past summer with England.

West Brom face even further envy, but a sense of pride, as Morgan Rogers has room to grow even further

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Seeing their former academy star lift European titles and represent England in World Cups may be bad enough, but West Brom still face even more transfer envy in the future. After all, Rogers is only 24, and has plenty more accolades to tick off.

The new Chelsea forward scored on his Blues debut vs Fulham on Monday night and combined brilliantly with Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro throughout the game. If that front three can stay healthy, Xabi Alonso's side could be really dangerous this year.

Rogers can lift Premier League titles and more European silverware in the future. If and when he does, there'll be a sense of pride alongside the envy at West Brom, as they know where he came from.

And with the Baggies academy producing one of England's most talented attacking midfielders we've seen in some time, it's right that James Morrison is doing his best to tie fellow academy product Harry Whitwell down to a new deal, after two goals and an assist to open the new campaign.