Rogers had reportedly been identified as Arsenal’s number one transfer target on the back of an eye-catching season with Aston Villa, in which he racked up ten goals and six assists in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old also played an instrumental role as Villa brought their 30-year trophy drought to an end, finding the net and assisting Youri Tielemans as Unai Emery’s men beat Freiburg to cap off an outstanding Europa League campaign.
But while Arsenal had seemingly been in pole position to sign Rogers, they were ultimately outmanoeuvred by Chelsea – and the England international underwent a medical with the Blues on Monday after returning from the World Cup.
Rogers was officially unveiled as a new Chelsea player 24 hours later, following in the footsteps of Marco Palestra and Geovany Quenda to become the third signing of the summer at Stamford Bridge.
The eye-watering sum to capture Rogers surpasses the £107m fee that the Chelsea spent to land Argentina central midfielder Enzo Fernandez three years ago.
Rogers has signed a seven-year contract with the Blues (Picture: Chelsea FC)
The England midfielder had been heavily linked with Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
‘The numbers are inflated, that’s not the players issue for me,’ ex-Chelsea captain Terry when asked for his reaction to the big-money move on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Terry couldn’t resist taking a shot at Arsenal over the deal, adding: ‘He’s obviously joined a club that has the potential of winning the Champions League and has a history of winning the Champions League, hence he’s gone for us over the red side of London, Piers.
‘To be honest, if you’re him, you’d have probably gone Arsenal so the numbers must have been pretty big. But I’m excited to have him, I think he’s a good player.
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‘I think he’s going to give us better than what we’ve got at the moment, I think he’s a good addition to the squad and I’m actually excited to see him.’
Asked if he was able to understand players seemingly choosing money over genuine trophy ambitions, Terry replied: ‘I was at Chelsea from the age of 14 so you end up falling in love with your football club.
‘You have a rapport and a relationship like no other so I can’t speak for 95 per cent of the players that are probably looking at this differently to the way I felt.
‘I never wanted to leave Chelsea. Saying that, we had an owner that had big and deep pockets, I was offered contracts that were the equivalent of other clubs around me and I was paid money that I probably wouldn’t have got elsewhere.
Rogers was instrumental in Villa’s Europa League success (Picture: Getty)
‘It’s a really unfair question to ask me without being too loyal, I love Chelsea and Chelsea is my club so for me, I don’t get it. But if you don’t have that relationship like I had, I can also understand it.
‘Once you’re finished, you’re finished and you’re out the game and these boys are very young when they do finish.’
But while Terry is pleased to see Chelsea bring in the undoubted quality of Rogers, he remains saddened by Marc Cucurella’s departure for Real Madrid earlier this summer.
‘When he got his move to Real Madrid I said this, I said I was really disappointed,’ he added.
Mourinho will ‘love’ Cucurella at Real Madrid, says Terry (Picture: Getty)
‘I think about one-on-one defensively, we spoke about the battles he has with Bukayo Saka.
‘Everything I see as a Chelsea fan now, I see in him as a defender: aggressive, in people’s faces, wanting to win, he cares.
‘I see him around the training ground, he’s a winner and we’ve lost a World Cup winner.’
According to Terry, Jose Mourinho is going to ‘love’ Cucurella when the pair join forces at Madrid ahead of the new season.
‘He’s an incredible player, a really good person,’ he continued on the Spain defender.
‘Jose Mourinho is going to love him at Real Madrid. He’s right up his street.’
