Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers wants to land a top drawer player this summer, in the mould of Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers celebrates
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has told The Scotsman that he is looking to lure a top quality player in the mould of Philippe Coutinho to Glasgow.
The Bhoys have coasted to the Scottish Premiership title this season, winning a sixth straight league title in remarkable fashion having yet to be beaten in the league.
With just six points dropped this season, Celtic sit atop of the Scottish football mountain again, and the challenge facing manager Rodgers is to not only continue that domestic success, but also improve in Europe too.
Rodgers has now committed his future to Celtic having penned a new four-year contract with the club on Friday afternoon, and he will now be looking towards the summer transfer window.
Last summer, Rodgers – who replaced Ronny Deila at the end of last season – snapped up two major signings in Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair, both of whom have starred this term, whilst squad players such as Dorus De Vries, Cristian Gamboa and Kolo Toure also arrived.
This time around, Rodgers will no doubt hope for considerable investment having committed his future to the club, despite rumours that he could return to the Premier League.
Rodgers has now told The Scotsman that, having brought in Lee Congerton as Celtic’s new recruitment chief, the Bhoys are looking for game-changing signings – possibly in the mould of Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho.
Rodgers signed Premier League star Coutinho at Liverpool, and revealed that Congerton tipped him off about the Brazilian, hinting that Celtic want to find similar talent – possibly in Brazil given that Congerton also found Neymar and Alexandre Pato.
Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho
“The reason I brought in Lee Congerton was because he’s one of the best at it,” said Rodgers. “This is the guy who found me Coutinho. No-one would have heard of Coutinho otherwise. When I worked at Chelsea I remember Lee being away in South America. He came back and told me about two players who were 14 or 15. He said ‘wow, there are two players out there we’ve got to try and get’. It was Coutinho and Neymar. At that point no-one had heard of them”
“So the reason I’ve brought Lee in is because of that. Alexander Pato was another one, I remember, that he mentioned. So I’ve brought in one of the best in his field. Someone who has a worldwide network.. He can really help us in a lot of markets, to get the best possible players we can, but the profile and everything has to be right to fit in with the club. But Coutinho at 14 was great. He was at Vasco da Gama and Chelsea tried to do a deal, but they’d already done one with Inter Milan. He went there at 16 but I was always aware of him.”
“Then when I was at Liverpool I got the guys to find out about him. Inter Milan were struggling for money and young players very rarely got a chance. So it was an opportunity for us to get him. He cost £8.5million, that’s what we got him for. What’s he worth now? But no-one knew of Coutinho. But he was in our team at 19 and he flourishes. So there is talent out there and we will always look to get it,” he added.
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