THE greatest signing in Celtic history isn’t the theft of Henrik Larsson for £650,000, signing Lubo Moravcik for half that or even the deal to bring Lisbon Lion Ronnie Simpson to the club who quite incredibly cost four grand.

The £1200 fee paid to Llanelli for one John Stein, a modest fee even back in 1951, not only changed the club forever, not that anyone knew it at the time, but it’s not hyperbole to suggest football itself would later come to welcome the decision for Celtic to sign a former miner playing for a Welsh club.

This piece of business will take some beating.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Nobody will leave Celtic and we will buy before the Champions League qualifiers

Every manager, and certainly his chairman, loves a bargain. Spending £80million on Gareth Bale doesn’t require a trusted scouting network; rather a bottomless pit of money which Real Madrid always seem to have.

But to find a Larsson, a Kris Commons, almost 100 goals and as many assists for £300,000, takes skill, patience and a line of people working together for a football club who knows where to look for those players others have failed to notice.

Celtic is an easy sell. Scottish football is not. Brendan Rodgers is a manager that good players want to work with and they will be handsomely rewarded for it. But Stoke City, alas, can afford to triple the wages Celtic’s highest earner can.

There are many, too many, who would rather be a fringe player in the Premiership or at Championship in England instead of testing themselves in an environment which is far more demanding than one of those English mid-table clubs who cruise through every season.

Rodgers is hardly the first man to sit in that office who knows there are limitations in terms of finance and persuasion. 

That’s the challenge and it’s one which is going to be fascinating when the summer window opens.

“I think there is still a level of player out there for us who can bring excitement,” said the Celtic manager with some confidence.

“Again, it’ll all depend on what it is for the player. We can’t just pay anything, and I would never ask the club to do that.

“I’m not here to put the club in a risk. Not at all. I’ll always demand that we sign the best possible players we can. 

“But I understand strategically where the club is at, and how it needs to function going forward.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Nobody will leave Celtic and we will buy before the Champions League qualifiers

“That’s not lacking ambition, that’s just being real. And also knowing – from being down south for a number of years – exactly the types of players we can attract here. In fact, not even attract. Players we can get here.”

The man in charge of recruitment is Lee Congerton who Rodgers raves about. His role will be to find the likes of Victor Wanyama, bought for £900,000, sold for £12m and any future sale is going to add even more to Rodgers’s kitty.

“The reason I brought in Lee was because he’s one of the best at it,” said his manager.

“This is the guy who found me Philippe 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. 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.”

A Coutinho type of signing would be something else, although perhaps bringing a potential superstar from Brazil might be beyond a Scottish club but it must be encouraging for the supporters to hear that such a market is somewhere their club will keep an eye on.

The proof will be in the pudding, of course, but given that Scott Sinclair was relatively cheap and Moussa Dembele could prove to be the steal of the century, there is living, breathing evidence that Celtic know what they are doing.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Nobody will leave Celtic and we will buy before the Champions League qualifiers

“Lee can really help us in a lot of markets, to get the best possible players we can,” said Rodgers.  

“But the profile and everything has to be right to fit in with the club. 

“But Coutinho at 14 was great. He was at Vasto de 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.

“Plus as a Celtic supporter I know what they want. They have always had someone with the magic. 

“They’ve always had someone who gets them up off their feet. Always. So I know what they want. Hence the reason I brought in Scott Sinclair who gets them up off their seat. We’ll be looking for that.”

Celtic spent £6m on Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon and John Hartson, all three became modern day legends and in their own way were bargains, but the club has understandably been reluctant to spend anything like that for a long time.

It was put to Rodgers that the £8.5million he spent on Coutinho is chicken feed these days, at least for certain clubs, and there might come a time when he has to phone Dermot Desmond to ask for him to break the club transfer record.

“Well, we’ll find out – if there’s one available. We’ll see, we’ll see,” said Rodgers. “But the club have backed me 150 percent since I’ve been here. I just think it has to be right in every sense.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Nobody will leave Celtic and we will buy before the Champions League qualifiers

“We have a very clever board so if we can make an investment of £8.5million, and in two years it can get you £40m-50m, then I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t do that. You look at what you can gain against the risk.

“Like I say, I couldn’t be at a club where the intellect in the board could be any better. It’s incredible, I have to say, it’s been so impressive every time I meet them.

“I speak to them collectively and individually. Whatever went on in the past, I do not know, but all I know from my time here working with them is that the intelligence is dripping out of them. 

“And the stra-tegy, they’re pretty clear on.”