Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he was bowled over by Kieran Tierney when he got his first look at the Hoops youngster this week.

Tierney had a meteoric season last term in which he was a mainstay in the first-team while also clearing the board with the Young Player of the Year awards.

He made into the senior international team towards the end of the campaign and Rodgers has echoed previous Hoops boss Ronny Deila by insisting that the teenager has the potential to reach the very top level.

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“I have seen in two days Kieran Tierney, who I will tell you now will be a top player,” said Rodgers. “He’s an 18 year old kid and probably before the start of last season no-one will have heard of him.Glasgow Times: Brendan Rodgers addresses the squad at Lennoxtown

“But I’ll tell you know from my experience of working in England in the middle section and the top end of the league, this kid will be a top player.”

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“Absolutely 100 percent he will be. Having worked with young players and lots of them, and seen them grow and develop, there’s no question about that.”

Asked what it was about Tierney that so caught his eye, Rodgers was keen to articulate the qualities that jumped out at him in the opening few training sessions of the new regime.

“Everything,” he said. “Attitude, he’s 18 years of age, quicker than what I thought, I had only seen him on the telly in highlights and clips but when you see him close up, he’s a super athlete, strong, quick, balanced, aggressive, a wonderful left foot. He will get better, he still has bits to improve, he defends, he’s hard to beat, he wants to go forward, he is a good size, and personality.”

Tierney signed a four-year contract in August last year but there are suggestions that Celtic are prepared to tie him down on another lucrative deal in order to keep potential suitors away – for the time being.Glasgow Times: Kieran Tierney has been tipped to play at the very top level of football by Brendan Rodgers

Arsenal were linked with Tierney this summer but Rodgers believes the player will be best served learning his trade in the Hoops first-team.

“Listen the club are well underway with that,” he said with regards to another deal for the teenager. “The kid will be a top player. He needs to be where he is now. He’s at a top club. If you’re an 18 year old player and you’re playing for Glasgow Celtic and you’re playing in the way that we will go to work, it’s the ideal place for him to be.

“What then happens in two, three, four years, whatever, we will see. But at this moment in time he’s best suited at this club and he’s very happy to be here in the conversations I’ve had. He’s a wonderful talent.”