Aston Villa to complete €25m deal as fight to retain Rogers begins

Robin Bairner

13 Apr 2026 09:25 BST
4 min read

Aston Villa’s transfer window is set to be dominated by their fight to retain Morgan Rogers, and Unai Emery’s side are close to completing a €25 million transfer that will aid their battle to accomplish their goal.

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Donyell Malen is set to finalise a permanent move to Roma from the Birmingham side, with reports from Italy indicating that the Serie A outfit will buy out his loan agreement after the Dutchman’s electric start in the Eternal City.

Malen has scored 11 goals in 14 appearances for the Romans and notably bagged a hat-trick against bottom side Pisa on Saturday.

Current ETV

Donyell Malen

F (C), M (R), AM (L)

Roma

Donyell Malen

F (C), M (R), AM (L)

Roma

ETV Range

€14.2M - €17.3M

Nicolo Schira reports on X: “Roma will trigger the option to buy to sign Donyell Malen on a permanent deal worth €25m from Aston Villa, regardless of the conditions of the obligation.”

When Malen moved to Italy, it was agreed that the move would be permanent if he played 50% of the club’s matches and Roma qualified for the Champions League or Europa League. The first part of that bargain has already been met, but while the second is still somewhat in the balance, Villa have been informed that the Italians have already made up their minds on the player.

What does this mean for Morgan Rogers?

Villa will not be too upset to see the back of Malen, particularly given his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) sits at only €15.8m, there is more concern over the future of Rogers.

The 23-year-old has been persistently linked to the Premier League’s biggest clubs, with TalkSport reporting that Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United are all circling.

Aston Villa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) position means that it is “likely” they will need to sell a star player this summer, BBC Sport reports, with the expectation that figure will be Rogers, who was signed in a €9.4m (£8m) deal from Middlesbrough in January 2023.

Lately, Emery has been forced to defend his star player amid questions that he has lost focus due to the transfer speculation surrounding him. Rogers has gone seven games without a goal or an assist in the Premier League – his longest ever run.

“Today he did a fantastic job and match,” Emery said after Villa’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.

“He’s having a fantastic season. He is part of everything offensively because of his quality and attitude. Sometimes he needs some rest because he is playing and playing and playing.”

Ultimately, the bad news for Villa is that Malen’s €25m sale is unlikely to make a sufficient dent in their finances to allow them to have a serious chance of retaining all their stars this summer.

He remains one of the club’s most valuable assets, and with an ETV of close to €60m represents their quickest route to financial stability – even with Boro retaining a 20% right to any profit they make on the England ace.

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