Morgan Rogers hands Mikel Arteta £130m transfer incentive as Arsenal consider record bid

Morgan Rogers has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal

England booked their place in the World Cup semi-finals and did so with a helping hand from Arsenal transfer target Morgan Rogers. Jude Bellingham scored twice to down a spirited Norway side.

The defeat for the Scandinavians means Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard exits the tournament and will begin his three-week break before returning for pre-season. The skipper’s place has been under some threat after the arrival of Eberechi Eze and could become even tougher to keep if the Gunners are successful in their chase of Rogers.

Rogers is the club’s number one target this window football.london understands, but Aston Villa have reportedly placed a massive £130million asking price on the 23-year-old. Arsenal will hope to find some middle ground with their own valuation and budget for the move; any such deal has obstacles while Rogers remains at the World Cup.

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Bellingham, who scored as a result of the shot from outside the box from Rogers, was full of praise at full-time, speaking to ITV Sport. “I told him to keep going because I knew he was going to make an impact in the game,” Bellingham said. “And I’ve scored loads of those types of goals to be fair.”

These moments have perhaps been somewhat lacking from Arsenal’s repertoire. Eberechi Eze certainly helped add more, but the acquisition of Rogers is hoped to step these up even further.

On the biggest stage, Rogers showed the value of what his long-range shooting can bring. Whether it adds greater incentive to Mikel Arteta and the club to complete a move remains to be seen.

Rogers recently described how it was his hope to take his own game to new levels. Many have interpreted this as something of a hint of a desire to make a move to Arsenal a reality, where the biggest trophies would be far more accessible.

“I look at players in the room, in the training ground, like Harry Kane, Jude, they’ve done it for five, six, seven, eight years consistently, and that’s the difference from a good player to a great player.

“That next level, I want to take that step, I want to be in those conversations with the best players in England, I want to be in those conversations [with] the best players in Europe.

“I’ve still got a long way to go and a lot of learning to do and a lot of development, but I think I’m on the right path of doing that.”

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