Arsenal missed out on Morgan Rogers and in hindsight it looks to be a rather large error from the Premier League champions

Arsenal have been shown that Morgan Rogers was nothing other than a missed opportunity, and one which they have to work even harder to avoid regretting. When you look not only at the England international’s output for Chelsea, but also at what remains in the market, only regret comes to mind.

Now, it is worth stating that the role Rogers plays, which is an inside attacking midfield role to the left of the centre-forward, would not have exactly been the role he would have played on the left at Arsenal. And, he probably suits this role in West London better.

However, I cannot help but see a fast, powerful, goal-scoring player adapted perfectly for this league, an England international with ties to plenty of existing players in the squad who is now ripping it up in the colour of blue… which makes it even more painful. Six goals and four assists already this season- the same number of Premier League goals Leandro Trossard scored in all of last season, by the way- and one off a combined tally of the Belgian and Gabriel Martinelli from the previous league campaign.

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Christos Tzolis, who I like, is yet to score in a competitive game, but bluntly, he was never meant to be that player for Arsenal. The player that was never arrived.

Arsenal didn’t sign Rogers because of several reasons. The first is they waited too long.

It is widely understood that prior to Manchester City’s purchase of Elliot Anderson for £116million, Rogers’ price tag was lower. Once the Anderson deal happened, Villa, rightfully, put the price up and saw Rogers as a more accomplished, European-proven player.

Arsenal could have moved sooner and more aggressively and looked to sign him for around the £80million-£100million mark. They didn’t and even when Chelsea eventually offered the £117million, which was offset in the end by Nicolas Jackson’s move the other way, which is worthy of an article in itself (raises eyebrow), Arsenal were given the chance to match it but were not budging on their valuation.

It’s the same reason they never moved seriously for Bradley Barcola, but they’re being somewhat proven right so far in that choice. Meanwhile the move for Vinicius Junior, in reflection, seemed a bit doomed from the start.

Even if they had the financial package and image rights strategy to convince him, they would have struggled to muster a transfer fee that Real Madrid would have entertained, considering the offer needed for the player.

Rogers, while still very expensive, would have cost a significantly lower amount to pay per week. And now what Arsenal are left with are some talented players like Antonio Nusa or Kevin Schade as options, but who frankly are not as good as Rogers, or at least we’re nowhere near as certain that they will be.

Nusa is not for sale at any price this winter, same as was the case in the summer, football.london understands, and even next summer a huge offer will be needed to make RB Leipzig budge. Brentford are also shrewd negotiators and will demand a big fee.

Where do Arsenal go now? Back to the drawing board, it seems.