Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes that playmaker Philippe Coutinho can be an absolute world beater in the Premier League and can improve further despite his fantastic performances off late.
The Brazilian has already found the admiration of the Kop and been a key player for his side in the last two years. He put in a match-winning display against Manchester City yesterday and Rodgers said that the fee he was bought in for was an absolute bargain, a Hea s a kid we brought in two and a half years ago, A?8.5m, ita s frightening to think what he could be worth in the market now but therea s still improvement to make.a
a Hea s at a very high level. I think his performances in particular since he signed his contract, hea s started to score goals.
a Hea s a joy to watch. Hea s a kid whoa s got so much ahead of him in the game. He’s 22 years of age, people forget he came into us at 19, and he is still developing, still adapting to a new country.
a He’s a sensational footballer and now hea s starting to add the goals to mirror that quality.
a To beat Joe Hart – who I rate extremely highly – to beat him at that angle with that power, it was a phenomenal strike, as was Jordana s.a
a Hea s a player that has always assisted and made the final pass in his career.
a Hea s a very selfless player, a very humble young guy and would always rather create for others. But we just encourage him and hea s done more work on the training field as well. Hea s got wonderful body movement around the edge of the box, where it doesna t take many touches to get it under control and then to shift it to shoot. Youa ve seen recently hea s starting to work that space really well.
In the last few seasons, Coutinho’s goal return hasn’t been that great, but in recent times, he has shown signs that he can be a real threat from midfield and has scored a few times and all of them have been stunning goals. Rodgers went on to add that Coutinho is getting into good goalscoring positions which is helping his cause, a His technique is at a real, real high level so hea s going to score more goals. Hea s now arriving into the areas so hea s going to pull the trigger and get his shots off.
a You see that goal (today), the one he had at Bolton which was a great strike and some of the other strikes as well. Hea s now starting to get success from it and that encourages him to shoot even more.a
a Hea s a young player that has developed, hea s got the trust of his teammates, hea s playing at a football club that adores him, he loves it here hence him signing the new deal. Hea s playing for a team that wants to play a technical game and once you add all of that and his humility as a kid to want to improve a this is a boy that loves to train every day, wants to do extra work, an absolute pleasure and a joy to work with.”
