Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed Philippe Coutinho sent him a message after leaving Liverpool for Barcelona.
When in charge of Liverpool, Rodgers plucked him from the fringes at Inter Milan and giving him the platform to shine, but reveals it’s personality as well as talent that has made his former charge so special.
Coutinho has stayed humble and his former boss said: “He sent me a nice text the other day when he was arriving in Barcelona. He is a great young guy, he was never a moment’s problem for me. He was a magical player to work with.
“It’s brilliant for both as he is a Barcelona player if ever there was one.
“At the time when I brought him, he wasn’t in the team at Inter Milan.
“People questioned whether he was big enough and tall enough.
“But I’d seen him as a young player at 18 at Inter Milan around top players and I always felt he had the technical quality. And, of course, he was always going to get better physically.
“We kept in contact ever since we left. Before he came over to Liverpool, he was low in confidence.
“I believed in his ability. It was clear what he was. If you see him play now, he played like that when he was an 11 year old child, if you see videos of him playing Futsal.
“He was exactly the same. But he needed that belief. He came in and developed and improved. He was outstanding for me and a real humble boy.”
