Brendan Rodgers’ joke about the Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho will have surely messed with the heartbeat of the Celtic fans.

The former Liverpool manager joked that he is looking to sign the Brazilian from the Merseyside giants this summer.

Rodgers was asked to reflect on the world record transfer of Neymar and whether he was looking to bring somebody in before the Champions League playoffs against Astana.

Speaking to the media, Rodgers said: “It’s an astronomical amount of money to pay for a wonder player, frightening really. Am I looking to bring someone in ahead of Astana Yes, Coutinho. We’ll see, we’re looking but I will always wait for the right quality.”

Coutinho has been linked with a move to Barcelona ever since his compatriot Neymar joined the French giants. Rodgers was the one who signed the mercurial Liverpool playmaker during his time at Anfield for a fee of £8.5 million. The Brazilian is worth at least ten times of that fee now.

The Northern Irishman seemed confident about making his mark in Europe with Celtic despite the astronomical amount of money being spent by the likes of Paris Saint-Germain.

Celtic were far from convincing in the last qualifying round of the Champions League and the Scottish champions will need to improve in order to secure their place in the group stages now.

Rodgers’ side are now two games away from a place in the group stages.