Glenn Hoddle stunned by Morgan Rogers footage with England that nobody saw
Unai Emery deserves plenty of credit for the work he has done at Aston Villa over the past couple of seasons.
The Villans are still in the race for European football this season, while having the quarter-finals of both the Champions League and the FA Cup ahead too.
Emery has shown he can transform players, with Morgan Rogers quickly becoming a star since his under-the-radar arrival from Middlesbrough.
Glenn Hoddle stunned by Rogers footage
Rogers was rewarded for his fine form this season with a call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad.
The 22-year-old impressed when he came on as a substitute in Friday’s (21 March) win against Albania and was rewarded with his first start in the 3-0 win against Latvia on Monday (24 March).
Rogers played the full 90 minutes and came away having put in a strong performance, something Alan Pardew had already backed him to do.
Glenn Hoddle was left stunned by what he saw from the young attacker at Wembley, picking out a piece of skill that not many people saw.
Discussing his performance live on talkSPORT (25 March, 9:13am), Hoddle said: “I think he’s one that I’ve just explained there, where you want to find out about somebody on the pitch all the hype, you’ve had a look at him in training, can he reproduce it?
“He went out there and he just, his first bit of skill he made when he went out towards the corner flag and he did what I call a Rivellino, back in the day he used to hit the top of the ball and he spun round the guy and I don’t think anyone saw actually what he did but he got on the back of him on the byline and cut it back and I think it went out for a corner and I thought, my word.
“If that’s your first thing you’re going to do as a player coming on from the bench, I mean, and he was wonderful, I thought he was excellent.
“He’s just got that little bit of guile about him, that little bit of turn of pace and my word, for his age, he’s got that body strength that’s possibly like a Rooney when he was really young.”
Rogers to continue succeeding for Aston Villa
After making just 11 Premier League appearances last season, Rogers has really stepped up and has registered 28 top-flight appearances this term, as well as being a regular in the Champions League.
| Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| 41 | 12 | 7 |
At just 22 years old, too, it’s no surprise that Tuchel saw him worthy of a call-up to the England squad, and it certainly looks as though he has an exciting future ahead of him.
As Hoddle says, the confidence that comes from his performances makes him exciting to watch and is certainly a credit to the work that is being done with him at club level.
To be compared to Rooney is a massive statement, but Rogers won’t be focusing too much on perceptions of him from the outside.
Villa return to domestic action with their FA Cup quarter-final tie against Preston North End giving them a good opportunity to build some momentum again before pushing in the final period of the season.
There is still plenty to play for, and based on what he’s shown so far, there is no reason why Rogers can’t be a big part of that.