Ian Wright ‘Gutted’ as Arsenal Loses Morgan Rogers to Chelsea
Ian Wright has laid bare his frustration at Arsenal’s summer business, admitting he was “gutted” to see Morgan Rogers slip through the club’s fingers and land at Chelsea.
Arsenal spent the window hunting for another high-end attacking option after wrapping up an early deal for Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge. The brief was clear: add a difference-maker in the final third to turn a strong squad into title winners.
They aimed high. Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Junior and Julian Alvarez all sat near the top of Arsenal’s wishlist as Mikel Arteta pushed for a left-sided forward who could break tight games open.
Instead, the window closed with Rogers parading in blue. Chelsea paid £117m to get him, swooping in after weeks in which Arsenal had looked well placed to sign him.
Arsenal did not stand still. Bruno Guimaraes arrived to bolster midfield, Ezri Konsa came in to strengthen the back line, and the squad, on paper, looks deeper and more mature. Yet for Wright, speaking on The Overlap, the one glaring omission defines the window.
“It’s not a disastrous window,” he said. “But if I’m Mikel, I wouldn’t be happy with how this window has gone simply because we’ve gone another window where we have not got that forward.
“Mikel has talked about getting players to take us to that level, he did it again after Paris, where we didn’t have that player to break them. That is the player Mikel wanted. They chased Vini until the end of the earth and left Morgan Rogers dangling.”
Arsenal are gearing up for another title push, but Wright fears the lack of a top-class option on the left could be the detail that costs them when the margins tighten in spring.
“You say we have got those types of players but that is what Mikel wanted. It is a position where we need that player,” he continued. “Of course Saka is back, Odegaard is back, Havertz is back and playing together, but he wanted that difference-maker.
“He [Rogers] is the one we were linked with ages ago and he would have loved to have come, I can feel it.”
For Wright, the way Arsenal went all-in on Vinicius Junior has left a mark. The pursuit of the Real Madrid star, he believes, may have affected how other targets viewed the club’s intentions.
“There’s something that’s happened with Arsenal with the way they were going for Vini,” he said. “If you’re a player and you see a team going for him, you think, ‘I thought they were interested in me?’ It is the player the manager wanted. Chelsea thought, well if you’re not going to pay it, we’ll pay it. I’m gutted, I would have loved him to come.”
Now the narrative turns sharp. Arsenal head to Chelsea in the Premier League this weekend, with Rogers potentially lining up against the side that courted him for so long.
Peter Crouch expects that decision to sting on the pitch as well as off it.
“Great game! Two teams looking good as well,” Crouch said. “I’m going to put the cat amongst the pigeons and I’m going to go for a 3-2 Chelsea win. I think they’ve announced themselves as title contenders.”
If Rogers makes an impact in that kind of statement win, Arsenal’s missed chance won’t just be a talking point on a podcast. It will be running down the touchline in Chelsea blue.
