Three years before becoming Chelsea's £117m club-record signing, Morgan Rogers watched his value fall to just £1m and questioned whether he would make it at all. The transition from academy football to the men's game was not seamless, and in his own words, it took a series of "difficult loans" for him to break through.
Bournemouth, who Chelsea face at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, were the first of two underwhelming Championship loan spells for Rogers, alongside a later stint at Blackpool, while he was a Manchester City player. It was a setback for a player who had been a regular England youth international and one of West Bromwich Albion's brightest academy prospects.
In a recent interview with Chelsea's club channel, Rogers said that period taught him how to "take knocks." Asked what his rise through the EFL had taught him, he replied: "Everything." After a long pause, he added: "I needed that next challenge, to be taken out of my comfort zone and find the player I was going to be in professional football."
His first loan manager at Lincoln City, Michael Appleton, recalls Rogers scoring six goals and providing two assists in 28 appearances. Appleton remembers Rogers having a big personality and speaking up in team meetings despite arriving as an 18-year-old, describing him as full of confidence yet taking the defensive side of the game seriously.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing