Morgan Rogers might have been the Premier League signing of the summer despite costing Chelsea £117 million from Aston Villa. Rogers has already contributed six goals and four assists for the Blues in just 11 matches in all competitions.

The former Villa star has linked up well with Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Pedro Neto in Chelsea’s front four, which have been really entertaining this season. The only concern for Rogers is that he has played an unbelievable amount of football over the last year or so.

Jamie Gittens’ absence is becoming a problem for Chelsea and Morgan Rogers

Morgan Rogers was signed to start on the left of Chelsea’s attack, whether out wide or as a left-sided No.10. Rogers is a significant upgrade on Alejandro Garnacho, who made the opposite move from Stamford Bridge to Aston Villa in the summer transfer window.

Chelsea have a plethora of left-footed attackers who prefer to play on the right: Pedro Neto, Estevao Willian, Geovany Quenda and Cole Palmer. However, only Rogers and Jamie Gittens want to cut inside from the left wing onto their stronger right foot.

Therefore, Gittens should be competing with, or at least backing up, Rogers in Xabi Alonso’s team. Unfortunately, the former Borussia Dortmund winger played just 55 minutes under Alonso before suffering an ankle injury on international duty with England Under-21s.

Chelsea players with most minutes played in 2026/27

While Gittens has been out for six weeks, Rogers has played virtually every minute available for Chelsea. Rogers has played 996 minutes in total, more than any of his teammates, including 993 minutes in the Premier League, which represents 97.9% of the maximum.

Rogers has played 70 minutes more than Cole Palmer and 137 more than Maxence Lacroix, who tore his hamstring against Liverpool last week. Josh Acheampong (851), Pedro Neto (842) and Levi Colwill (823) have been Alonso’s next three most-used players.

Given that Rogers also made more appearances for club and country (71) than anyone in Europe’s top five leagues last season, it would seem sensible to rest him occasionally. That role should be occupied by Gittens, so the sooner he returns from injury, the better.

Not to mention, the 20-year-old has yet to find his feet at Stamford Bridge following his £48.5 million move from Dortmund last summer. Gittens has shown flashes of promise, but he probably needs to prove his value at some point this season if he does not want to be replaced.