There will always be football clubs who look at their former academy players thriving elsewhere and wish they could have guided their further development and realised the benefits of their brilliance.

West Brom must be envious of their inability to prevent Manchester City from acquiring Morgan Rogers in the summer of 2019, 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 started the 2026/27 season perfectly, with some young players from their academy and those signed from elsewhere this summer performing admirably for the club.

However, there will always be some ‘what if’s’ around Rogers and if he could have made a significant profit for West Brom if he had been allowed to continue growing at the Hawthorns.

Morgan Rogers made his professional debut with West Brom.

Indeed, Rogers, who grew up in Halesowen, only eight miles from the Hawthorns, joined hometown club West Brom at the age of seven and worked his way up the academy.

He spent a number of years with the under-18s and one season with the under-21s in the Premier League, where he scored five goals and assisted four in 12 games, including captaining the team in their last game against Southampton.

That same season, in 2018/19, he made both his professional and senior debuts for the Baggies. He was an unused replacement in an EFL Cup fixture earlier in the season, but was called up off the bench in the FA Cup fourth round rematch against Brighton and Hove Albion.

West Brom’s youngest ever debutants

Pos

Player

Age

Date of debut.

1. Charles Wilson.

16 years and 73 days.

October 1921

2. Izzy Brown.

16 years, 117 days

May 4, 2013

3) Jonathan Leko

16 years and 152 days.

September 23, 2015.

4. Kane Wilson

16 years, 165 days

August 23, 2016.

5) Morgan Rogers

Sixteen years and 195 days.

February 6, 2019.

The then-16-year-old replaced Wes Hoolahan as the Baggies lost in extra time.

Manchester City signed Morgan Rodgers during the summer of 2019.

Unfortunately, Rogers’ one appearance for the first team in the FA Cup would be his only one at the Hawthorns, as Manchester City came calling later that summer, and their weeks-long chase was successful.

West Brom had a rough summer in terms of losing highly-rated academy stars, as they had also lost Louie Barry to Barcelona a few weeks before.

At the time, the 16-year-old wide forward was widely expected to be sold for £117 million, especially given Rogers’ lack of impact at Manchester City.

He scored fewer goals in the PL2 with City and was loaned out three times to League One and Championship clubs.

He scored six goals in 25 games for Lincoln City in 2020/21, helping them reach the third-division play-off final, but spent the next two seasons suffering in the second tier. He played only 220 league minutes for Bournemouth and scored once in the second part of the 2022/23 season with Blackpool.

Morgan Rogers’ last three years and how he got to be worth £117 million.

Coming off a season in which he was unproductive for a Blackpool side that was relegated from the Championship, it’s incredible to think that three years later, he’d be shattering records by signing for Chelsea.

West Brom believed they had dodged a bullet by allowing him to leave when they did.

Manchester City appeared to be ready to give up on him following that period on the Fylde coast, as they allowed the offensive midfielder to join Middlesbrough that summer, but it was at the Riverside, under Michael Carrick, that Rogers began to demonstrate his brilliance.

He scored seven goals and assisted eight in 33 games for Borough in the first half of the 2023/24 season, prompting Aston Villa to sign him, only months after leaving the Premier League to join the Teesiders. Villa paid up to £16 million for his services.

His first half-season at Villa Park was somewhat quiet, but his first full season saw him burst into life. Rogers was a threat in both the Premier League and Europe, providing 27 goals, including a hat trick against Celtic in the Champions League.

While he only scored 25 goals last season, he was instrumental in his team’s Europa League victory and was one of England’s best players coming into the World Cup this summer.

West Brom face even more envy, but a sense of pride, because Morgan Rogers has room to grow even more.

Seeing a former academy hero win European titles and represent England in World Cups is terrible enough, but West Brom will confront even more transfer envy in the future. After all, Rogers is only 24 years old and has a long list of accomplishments ahead of him.

The new Chelsea attacker scored in his Blues debut against Fulham on Monday night and worked well with Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro throughout the game. If that front three can stay healthy, Xabi Alonso’s team might be quite dangerous this season.

Rogers can win Premier League crowns and additional European medals in the future. If and when he does, West Brom fans will be both proud and envious, knowing where he comes from.

And, with the Baggies academy producing one of England’s most promising attacking midfielders in recent memory, it’s understandable that James Morrison is attempting to sign fellow academy product Harry Whitwell to a new contract, following two goals and an assist to start the season.