Dedryck Boyata: Celtic target Charly Musonda is the next Belgian football superstar - he's "unbelievable"

Brendan Rodgers is hoping to add Musonda, a Chelsea player who spent last year on loan at Real Betis in Spain, to his Parkhead squad, possibly on a loan deal.

It will take a transfer fee in the region of £5million to land the gifted 20-year-old – but Rodgers has stated the Scottish champions are prepared to spend “big money” in order to secure the services of the quality No.10 he is looking for.

Read more: "I've known what a special player Charly Musonda is - since he ran rings around me at training when he was just 12"

The Northern Irishman told last week how the Scottish champions, who have signed Jonny Hayes from Aberdeen and teenager Kundai Benyu from Ipswich during the close season, had been courting their target for the past six months.

Boyata confirmed that Musonda had travelled up to Glasgow to watch a Ladbrokes Premiership game against St. Johnstone towards the end of the 2017/18 campaign.

“I have known Charly since he was 12,” said Boyata from Celtic’s pre-season training base outside Linz in Austria last night. “He is a very talented player.

“I have seen him play so many times and I can tell you he is a very, very good player. I think he needs some time to play and show what he can do. But he is a player who can confirm all the hype around him.

“He is a very skilful player who can play as a winger or as a No.10. He is very talented around the ball, he has got very good touches. He is small, but quick for his size.

“I don’t want to make comparisons to someone else, but he is one who wants to show what he can do. I don’t want to compare, but I can guarantee he is a very good player. He is unbelievable.

“The last time I saw him play was on TV and he helped Betis to win the game. Today when they talk about the future of the national team his name is always there. The hype around him has been confirmed by the fact he is playing for Chelsea.”

Read more: "I've known what a special player Charly Musonda is - since he ran rings around me at training when he was just 12"

Boyata added: “I saw him last season because he came to watch a game against St Johnstone at Celtic Park when we won 4-1.

“I saw him at the stadium because he came to watch the game and I saw him at the airport as well because we were on the same flight. I guess he came to watch a game I think, but I don’t know anything else. He seemed impressed with what he saw. He was very happy with the style and the way we played.”

Celtic have a proven track record of developing young players with raw potential and have enjoyed great success in the past with the likes of Ki Sung-Yueng, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk as well as with current striker Moussa Dembele.

Rodgers has been inundated with calls from the agents of aspiring professionals as a result of the success of Dembele, who he signed for just £500,000 from Fulham after being appointed last summer, and Musonda is believed to consider a move to Parkhead to be a shrewd career move.

He attracted interest from Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United and Real Madrid when he was 15, but signed for Chelsea in 2012 along with his two older brothers Lamisha and Tika.

The son of the former Anderlecht and Zambia midfielder, Charles Musonda Snr, hasn’t featured in the first team at Stamford Bridge, but he performed well during a loan spell with La Liga club Betis last year, including in two games against Barcelona.