‘Does he go abroad?’ - Morgan Rogers told he can ‘go higher’ as former Aston Villa star Henri Lansbury makes transfer prediction

Those are decisions to be made on another day, with there still plenty left for Villa to achieve in the 2025-26 campaign. They sit fourth in the Premier League table at present, while Champions League qualification could also be secured if Unai Emery can add a fifth Europa League triumph to his managerial roll of honour.

Rogers will have a key role to play in domestic and continental quests, as the most creative influence at the Villans’ disposal, and has been back among the goals of late after going 11 games without finding the target.

At 23 years of age, he is far from being the finished article. There is the promise of more potential being unlocked in his game, with Villa hoping that they will be the ones to benefit from that.

They have Rogers tied to a contract through to the summer of 2031, but know that said terms can always be broken if the right offer is tabled. Could a sale be sanctioned in upcoming transfer windows - potentially one that takes the 13-cap England star to a different division?

Quizzed on whether he sees Rogers representing one of the biggest clubs on the planet, Lansbury - who has been supporting the ‘Check Your Bally’s’ campaign that spread the word of and raised important funds for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month across the last round of Premier League fixtures, which saw Villa’s No.27 on target against Sunderland - told GOAL: “Yeah, I do to, be fair. I do I think he's got what it takes to be able to step on again.

“Where? Does he go abroad? Does he stay here? I don't know where that route takes him but he's definitely a fantastic midfielder/No.10. He's very similar to Morgan Gibbs-White in terms of how he plays forward, he wants to attack, he wants to create, he wants to score goals and, yeah, I think he could go higher.”

Rogers is not averse to taking brave decisions, which suggests that he may step out of his comfort zone again. Having spent time on the books at Manchester City, the West Midlands native dropped down into the Championship when joining Middlesbrough in 2023 - having picked up EFL experience across a series of loan spells.

He needed just 26 appearances for Boro in order to earn a £15 million ($20m) move to Villa, and has not looked back from there. Former Villans midfielder Lansbury said of Rogers’ career path and why he deserves immense credit for taking one step backwards in order to start moving forwards again: “It's just game time. I even say it now to the young boys, ‘whatever you can do, just go out and play games because that's where you're going to get seen, that's where you're going to get your confidence’.

“Even if you have to go to the Championship or League One, you're still going to play men's football. Obviously the U21s now are not really getting much men's football and a few of them fall by the wayside.

“But the special ones that get in touch with the first team, as soon as they're touching first team ground, they need to be going out on loan and playing - just playing games.”

As part of its ‘Check Your Bally’s’ awareness drive for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, Bally Bet used familiar pauses in play to remind fans to check themselves off the pitch. From a VAR check that kept Gabriel on the pitch during Arsenal’s top of the table clash against Manchester City, to a review that saw Everton denied a penalty in the Merseyside derby after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall went down in the box, the weekend’s key interventions played their part in turning on-pitch decisions into meaningful impact off it.

Across the weekend, those moments helped drive a £10,000 donation from Bally Bet to The OddBalls Foundation, supporting their work in raising awareness and encouraging men to take action on their health.

Former Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa midfielder Lansbury, who previously battled testicular cancer, said: “VAR checks are something every player and fan notices during a game. You’re always waiting to see the outcome. This campaign is a great way of using those moments to remind people to check themselves too. It’s quick, it’s simple, and it can genuinely save lives. To see it also result in a £10,000 donation is brilliant and shows the impact it can have.”

By tapping into the natural rhythms of football, Bally Bet is encouraging fans to make checking themselves just as routine as checking a scoreline or waiting on a VAR decision. Because while the game may pause for a check, it only takes 30 seconds to do the same.

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