Brendan Rodgers shares his experience of working with Rangers duo

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers worked with Rangers midfielder Jordan Rossiter at Liverpool and defender Rob Kiernan at Watford.

Rangers’ Rob Kiernan (L) in action with Hibernian’s David Gray (R)

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has suggested to Herald Scotland that he enjoyed working with Rangers midfielder Jordan Rossiter when they were at Liverpool.

Rodgers was the Liverpool manager from the summer of 2012 until October 2015.

Rossiter developed at the youth academy at Liverpool and joined Rangers in the summer of 2016.

The 19-year-old midfielder made his first-team debut for the Reds under Rodgers and trained quite frequently with the senior side when the current Celtic boss was in charge of the Merseyside outfit.

Rodgers has praised the English youngster, who is set to feature for Rangers against Celtic at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday afternoon.

Jordan Rossiter (R) in action with Andreas Christensen

The former Swansea City manager has also praised Rangers defender Rob Kiernan.

Rodgers worked with the 25-year-old defender at English club Watford and has spoken highly of the former Wigan Athletic player.

“Young Jordan was always a terrific young player that came through the system at Liverpool,” Rodgers told Herald Scotland about Rossiter. ”It is always great to have a young, local lad come through the system there and I saw lots of items in his game that I really liked – he was competitive, and a star for the youth England teams.

“He had an older head on his shoulders and he wasn’t frightened to tell an older professional what to do and what not to do and that is always a good sign when they’re young.”

“Rob Kiernan was a young boy who was a midfield player when I was at Watford,” Rodgers told Herald Scotland about Kiernan. “He wasn’t getting a lot of chances in the youth and reserve teams because there were other players ahead of him.

“But because he had good size and stature I thought he could play number two centre-half. I thought he would need a dominant one beside him but he could play football and he could serve the ball.”

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

Celtic are at the top of the Scottish Premiership table at the moment with nine points from three matches. The Hoops are a point clear of second-placed Rangers with a game in hand.