Middlesbrough's Morgan Rogers-Aston Villa bonus payment and what it means for summer spending

Middlesbrough will receive a bonus cash injection this summer from the Morgan Rogers deal after Aston Villa qualified for the Champions League.

Rogers joined Aston Villa from Boro in January, just six months after moving to the Riverside from Manchester City. Boro are understood to have paid just over £1 million to buy him, quickly turning a big profit with the sale to Villa which was worth up to £16 million.

It is understood that Boro received a guaranteed fee north of £10 million with another £5 million based on potential performance-related add-ons. The deal also included what was described as a 'big sell-on fee'. It means Boro could financially benefit from the Rogers sale for some time yet, and the first bonus payment has been met after Villa secured a top-four Premier League finish to qualify for next season's Champions League.

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While it's not known exactly how much extra Boro will receive as a result of Villa's achievement, it has now been confirmed that qualification for the Champions League was one of the potential bonus payments, meaning Boro will receive some extra money from Villa this summer. While unlikely to be substantial, it will nevertheless prove a bonus to them ahead of the summer transfer window.

The initial sale had already left Boro in a decent position for the summer transfer window after the club decided against bringing a replacement for the 21-year-old in the winter transfer window. Having already added Finn Azaz from Villa earlier in the window, Boro assessed the market at that time and decided against spending any of the Rogers money on another option.

While there were late attempts to make moves for forwards, none ultimately came to fruition, with Boro refusing to pay above market value. That was particularly the case given that by that point, Boro's chances of catching the top two were almost impossible and even if a new forward had helped them reach the top six, they were always likely to head into the play-offs as one of the underdogs.

Instead, Boro decided to go with what they had at that time and that should leave them in a far stronger position this summer, as they start with a clean slate and look to refine Michael Carrick's squad with some quality additions to try and help make the necessary improvements on this season.

Though Boro's financial accounts, released yearly, show the harrowing reality of the price of being competitive in the Championship as they remain among the majority of clubs who spend more than 100% of their incoming revenue on staff wages alone, player sales in recent years have helped the club's financial position as far as the league's profit and sustainability rules are concerned.

With Steve Gibson able and continuing to invest £20 million a year that contributes towards those calculations, such high-profit margins on player sales in recent years on the likes of Chuba Akpom, Djed Spence and Marcus Tavernier gives them more leeway on spending power within PSR.

However, while it does provide that leeway, it doesn't necessarily mean Boro have or will spend that kind of money. Boro are ready to invest in their squad with summer additions this summer, but they continue to look for the balance between being competitive in order to win promotion back to the Premier League while also becoming more sustainable after suffering over £90 million worth of losses in the four years since the start of the Covid pandemic.

As things stand, the club still operate at a loss without player sales and while there is a determination to keep star players this summer, serious offers would have to be considered. Far more preferential right now would be keeping all star players this summer and finding value in the market to add quality in the key identified areas without spending huge amounts of money - something the recruitment team proved their capabilities of last term when unearthing many gems like Rav van den Berg and Emmanuel Latte Lath on the continent, as well as Rogers from the City academy.

Rogers, meanwhile, has enjoyed huge success since leaving Boro to join Villa. Despite only becoming a regular starter on Teesside in his last month of the club, the Midlands-born forward has continued his rapid rate of growth to establish himself as a regular under Unai Emery - netting three top-flight goals so far.