Morgan Rogers’ camp asked Arsenal to match Chelsea’s £117m transfer bid as he wanted to move to the Gunners, according to reports.
Mikel Arteta identified Rogers as one of his top targets at the start of the summer and Arsenal were believed to be leading the race to secure his signature.
The Premier League champions were willing to pay around £80m for Rogers, who was part of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for this summer’s World Cup.
But Chelsea blew their London rivals out of the water with a stunning £117m deal with Aston Villa, making Rogers the most expensive British player in Premier League history.
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Rogers said he was joining the ‘biggest club in London’ after switching Villa Park for Stamford Bridge but the Daily Mail says the England midfielder wanted to join Arsenal.
The report adds that the player’s camp urged bosses at the Emirates Stadium to match Chelsea’s record-breaking bid as he was ‘keen’ to bolster Arteta’s title-winning squad.
Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph says Rogers was ‘enthusiastic’ about joining Arteta’s project at Arsenal and was ‘ready to pack his bags’ and move to north London.
Rogers was the first of several summer targets that Arsenal failed to sign during the transfer window.
Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez had his heart set on a move to Barcelona, Arsenal refused to pay over the odds for new Liverpool signing Bradley Barcola and Vinicius Junior signed a contract extension at Real Madrid.
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Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher was surprised Arsenal didn’t push harder to sign two-time Champions League winner Barcola from PSG.
‘I’m happy it didn’t happen but I was looking at the Barcola thing,’ Carragher said on the latest episode of Stick to Football.
‘For me with Arsenal, left wing has always felt like where the drop is compared to [Bukayo] Saka, [Martin] Odegaard, [Kai] Havertz.
‘The new kid [Christos] Tzolis has made a decent start. But the longer the Barcola thing went on, and then Arsenal didn’t get Vinicius Jr or Alvarez, I was thinking is that [signing Barcola] not the one?’
