When the Norwegian keeper spilt Morgan Rogers’ shot for Jude Bellingham to lash home, there was much pride among Lincoln City fans.
Rogers wasn’t made in Lincoln, nor was Brennan Johnson, but both spent time here during their younger years, and both will always have a place in the hearts of City fans. If Rogers does well, we feel more affinity with him than, let’s say, Ollie Watkins. I’m sure Exeter City fans feel the same about Watkins, Bristol Rovers fans about Elliot Anderson and Wycombe about Eberechi Eze.
However, while all those players and more appeared for lower league clubs, few took anything obvious from their stays. They might cite it as a crucial experience; they might learn about the men’s game, but when they line up for their club, what can you physically see that links them to their stay at your club?
Morgan Rogers does, and he’s admitted it.
He’s being linked with a £130m move to Arsenal. He’s going right to the top of the game, and when England line up (fingers crossed) in the 2030 World Cup, he should be there. He could be a part of the international scene for the next decade, and if he is, he’ll most likely be wearing number 27.
That’s his number, and a Give Me Sport article has suggested that one reason he might favour Arsenal is that he can wear number 27. Arsenal’s number 27 shirt has been vacant since Marquinhos wore it in 2022/23, with Konstantinos Mavropanos, Gervinho and Emmanuel Eboué among its previous occupants. If he moves, Rogers will take it, and it’s a number he first wore at Sincil Bank.
“I went to Lincoln on loan, and it was the only number that looked remotely okay at the time,” he said last year.
“It wasn’t my number, but I was looking at the numbers and thought none of these. It was because it had the seven in, Ronaldo was my idol growing up.
“So, because it had the seven, I picked that. I wasn’t necessarily sold on it, but because then I had a good loan, it kinda stuck with me.”
It has stuck with him. He took the same number at Villa, while he also wore it during his spell with Bournemouth. The England squad doesn’t go to 27, being a 26-man squad, so he’s been given 17. It means we can’t see that obvious link as he struts out onto the turf across in the US and Mexico, but when he moves, or if he stays put, Imps’ fans should know that his number was directly influenced by his time right here at Sincil Bank.
Also, he’s the only member of the England squad who has had his transfer announcement inadvertently leaked by me an hour early because I scheduled it without changing the clock on WordPress. I’m sure that one is a little more tenuous.
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