Rogers or Grealish?
- James
- Jan 13
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 14
This weekend’s game against Everton is set to be Morgan Rogers’ 100th appearance for Villa.
It will undoubtedly be a milestone, but earlier this season, some raised doubts, suggesting a possible effort to re-sign a former player for Villa as a proven option or even as a replacement.
So you have a choice. Rogers or Grealish? What's it to be?
You Decide:
Rogers or Grealish?
Rogers
Grealish
Cast your minds back to September, the Hill Dickinson, 0-0, Villa winless since the start of the season, with a run of oddly introverted performances, Morgan Rogers looked tired and out of touch for Villa, whilst Jack Grealish came into the game off the back of four assists in three Premier League games for Everton.
Cue some infamous commentary along the lines of “Emery’s biggest transfer mistake”.
That seemed bizarre at the time, comparing a dip in form of a previously consistently excellent 23-year-old with a mini-revival from a newly turned 30-year-old.
As it panned out, a battling nil-nil brought no answers to the question in some fans’ minds: Rogers or Grealish?
So we're going to do just that.
Grealish
Jack Peter Grealish, born 10 September 1995 in Solihull, made his squad debut for Villa in March 2012 as a 16-year-old. His playing debut would come as an 18-year-old over two years later, ironically at Manchester City, the club he would leave Villa for seven years later.
Grealish would play 16 games, two as a starter, before contributing his first assist for the club in Villa’s FA Cup win over Albion in March 2015; he’d also be sent off in that game.
It would be six months later that Grealish would score his first goal for Villa, during the ill-fated 2015-16 season, as he gave Villa the lead at that season’s champions Leicester City (only for Villa to capitulate and lose once again).
Grealish’s first goal had come as a 20-year-old on his 28th appearance for the club and 14th start.
Grealish went on to make 213 appearances for Villa, scoring 32 goals, and contributing 38 assists between 2021 and 2021.
Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/jack-grealish
Rogers
Morgan Elliot Rogers, born 26 July 2002, in Halesowen, made his squad debut and playing debut for Villa in February 2024 as a 21-year-old.
Rogers would play 8 games, five as a starter, before contributing his first assist for the club, ironically at Jack Grealish’s Manchester City.
It would be just one game later, on his ninth appearance, that Rogers would score his first goal for the club in Villa’s 3-3 home draw with Brentford.
Rogers would end his first season with the club with 16 appearances, 12 starts, 3 goals and 1 assist.
Grealish would take 52 games, 27 as a starter, to score three goals for Villa, but by that time he had contributed six assists.
Rogers would take 39 games to reach six assists, but by that time had also scored eight goals, something Grealish achieved as a 22-year-old after 102 games, by which time Villa were playing in the Championship
Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/morgan-rogers
Rogers then is way out ahead isn't he?
Comparing Rogers & Grealish
But is it fair to Grealish to compare his early years as an 18-22-year-old with Rogers at 21?
Is it fair to Rogers to compare Premier League and European appearances with Grealish’s 50+ games in the second tier of English football?
Probably not.
So, to make the comparison as fair and objective as possible, let’s compare the last 99 Villa games of each player.
For Grealish, that takes us to 🟨 22 Aug 2018, Villa 2-2 Brentford, Villa Park, ironically the fixture in which Rogers scored his debut goal for the club five seasons later.
Grealish was 22 at this point.
For Rogers it's 🟩 3 Feb 2024, Villa 5-0 Sheffield United, Bramall Lane as a 21 year-old.
From those starting points let's looks at five metrics:
Competition Standard
Results Delivered
Goals & Assists
Age
Availability
Using each of these we can attempt to answer the question Rogers or Grealish?
Competition Standard
Across his 99 games, Grealish would make 95 starts and 4 substitute appearances playing in the Championship, EFL Cup and the Premier League.
Rogers, as we know, was 21 at the start of his 99-game run, and over the period has made 91 starts and 8 substitute appearances playing in the Premier League, Europa Conference League, Champions League, FA Cup, EFL Cup and Europa League.
On the standard of competition alone, it’s a clear win for Rogers.
Rogers 1-0 Grealish
Results Delivered
Across Grealish’s 99 games, he won 43%, losing 35%:
🟩 W43 | 🟨 D21 | 🟥 L35 |
🟩 43% | 🟨 21% | 🟥 35% |
Rogers’ 99 have brought a 57% win rate, losing 23%:
🟩 W57 | 🟨 W19 | 🟥 W23 |
🟩 57% | 🟨 19% | 🟥 23% |
On the results delivered, it’s another clear win for Rogers.
Rogers 2-0 Grealish
And for the genius of Unai Emery, read the relative ease of the opposition for Grealish in 2018-19.
Goals & Assists
Across Grealish’s 99 games, he scored 23 and assisted another 22, with an overall goal involvement rate of one every 2.20 games.
⚽ 23 | 🔥 22 | ⚽ 🔥 45
⚽ 4.30 | 🔥 4.50 | ⚽ 🔥 2.20
Across Rogers’ 99 games, he’s scored 25 and assisted another 22, with an overall goal involvement rate of one every 2.11 games.
⚽ 25 | 🔥 22 | ⚽ 🔥 47
⚽ 3.96 🔥 4.50 | ⚽ 🔥 2.11
Another win for Rogers, albeit far narrower, with Grealish ‘benefitting’ from a season in the Championship
So, as an extra check, let’s look at Grealish’s statistics solely in the Premier League:
During his time with Villa, Grealish made 96 Premier League appearances, scoring 15 goals and assisting another 16, with an overall goal involvement rate of one every 3.09 games, significantly lower than his overall figures.
🕒 96 ✅ 76 | 🔁 20 |
⚽ 15 | 🔥 16 | ⚽ 🔥 31
⚽ 6.40 🔥 6.00 ⚽ 🔥 3.09
But as we all know, Villa’s Premier League spell between 2012 and 2016 was little short of appalling and will weigh heavily on any player’s statistics.
Drilling down on his 2012-16 Premier League appearances alone, Grealish made 34 appearances, scoring once and assisting on five occasions, with an overall goal involvement rate of one every 5.67 games.
🕒 34 ✅ 16 | 🔁 18 |
⚽ 1 | 🔥 5 | ⚽ 🔥 6
⚽ 34.00 🔥 3.20 ⚽ 🔥 5.67
Compare that to his 2019-21 vintage as a 24-year-old already with 145 Villa appearances (and 100 Starts) behind him and we see that Grealish made 62 appearances, scored 14, assisted 11 and did so at a goal involvement rate of 2.48.
🕒 62 ✅ 60 | 🔁 2 |
⚽ 14 | 🔥 11 | ⚽ 🔥 25
⚽ 4.43 🔥 5.64 ⚽ 🔥 2.48
That however still trails Rogers’ record for goals scored (one every 3.96 games) and goals involvements (2.11).
So, in a final Goals & Assists comparison, let's take Rogers’ Premier League record and compare that to Grealish’s 2019-21 spell:
Rogers, since his debut as a 21-year-old, has played 69 Premier League games, scoring 18 and assisting 17.
🕒 69 ✅ 66 | 🔁 3 |
⚽ 18 | 🔥 17 | ⚽ 🔥 35
⚽ 3.83 🔥 4.06 ⚽ 🔥 1.97
So, starting as a Premier League novice, compared to a 100-start veteran, Rogers has contributed a Premier League Goal every 3.83 games compared to Grealish’s ‘mature’ record of 4.43, and has contributed a Premier League Goal Involvement every 1.97 games compared to Grealish’s 2.48.
So, whatever way you cut it, Rogers is way ahead of his older rival.
Rogers 3-0 Grealish
Talking of age, that's what's up next.
Age
By the time Grealish made the last of his last 99 appearances, he was 25.
Rogers is 23.
It’s hardly Grealish’s fault he was born earlier than Rogers, but still, it’s a win on achievement by age for the latter.
Rogers 4-0 Grealish
Availability
The final comparative metric is possibly the most important, and certainly the most overlooked.
How much can you rely on the player to turn out?
Grealish recorded his final 99 games for Villa across a run of 135 games.
In other words, he was unavailable for more than 1 out of every 4 games Villa played over the period.
In contrast, Rogers’ 99 games have come across 108 fixtures - an availability rate of 92%
In other words, he was unavailable for less than 1 out of every 12 games Villa played over the period.
Another clear win for Rogers, but perhaps it's just that Rogers hasn't met his Ross McCormack yet.
Rogers 5-0 Grealish
This brings us full circle to September 2025, no wonder Rogers was knackered but even a worn-out Rogers went on to contribute a goal and two assists over the following month.
Grealish meanwhile also scored once, but failed to contribute an assist.
It's simple Rogers > Grealish on every conceiveable level.
But do you agree?
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