Aston Villa have completed their move for the Middlesbrough forward Morgan Rogers after a concerted January pursuit. The 21-year-old, who arrived at Boro from Manchester City last July, has joined for a fee which it is understood could reach about £16m.
Rogers scored seven goals in 33 appearances for Boro, the most recent in last week’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg defeat at Chelsea, and has been the subject of prolonged interest from Villa.
Boro resisted Villa’s early overtures for a player who began his professional career at West Brom and had loans at Lincoln, Blackpool and Bournemouth during his time with City, but finally settled for a healthy return on a player who cost them about £1m. City stand to benefit from a sell-on clause.
Nottingham Forest and Brighton also made early moves in an otherwise sedate start to transfer deadline day. Forest signed Rodrigo Ribeiro from Sporting, the 18-year-old striker joining on loan until the end of the season in a deal that could become permanent.
There was an exit rather than an arrival at Brighton, with the midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud moving to Stuttgart on loan until the end of the season. The 28-year-old German joined Brighton last June from Borussia Dortmund and returns to the Bundesliga after making 14 appearances.
