Just 14 months ago Morgan Rogers was starting his Middlesbrough renaissance by linking with Sammy Silvera to fire Middlesbrough to victory at Swansea City - now he’s looking forward to teaming with Marcus Rashford and learning as much as he can from the Manchester United loanee.

Rogers’ fine season at Aston Villa continued on Sunday as he scored an all-important second goal to help fire Villa into the FA Cup fifth round against Tottenham. Pouncing on a loose ball in the penalty area, it was Rogers’ 11th goal for Unai Emery’s side this term.

Rogers has been a regular for Villa since making a shock switch to Villa Park 12 months ago. It came after just six months at Boro - for the majority of which saw him operating more as an impact sub. That was the case along with Blackpool loanee Silvera at Swansea last term - with the 2023 Boro summer signings taking considerably different routes since that Boro win in South Wales.

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New forward additions at the Midlands club - including Rashford who joined on loan from Manchester United after a fallout with new Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim, and former Real Madrid star Marco Asensio who joined on loan from PSG, Rogers faces new competition for his place in the Villans side. But the former Boro man is relishing working with his new team-mates, as he seeks to use their experiences to improve.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the FA Cup win over Spurs, Rogers said: [The competition] It pushes us all along. We want to take as much as we can from experienced players who we’ve got in the squad given the things they’ve done in their career.

“I’m just starting out in my career. It’s good to take what those players have done in their careers and try to take advantage of that to push ourselves. It’s massive to have players like that in the building. It just drives everyone on. We’ve got such a healthy squad and hopefully we can continue to push each other.”

Rogers’ excellent season has already benefitted Boro. After agreeing a deal with Villa last January that saw them guaranteed around £11 million, the deal included £5m in bonus add-ons, all of which are understood to have been met this season. They also have a considerable sell-on fee percentage attached to the deal too, with the former Man City academy star attracting plenty of interest.