Brendan Rodgers finally got his man yesterday as Charly Musonda checked in to Celtic Park.

It has been a long time coming for Rodgers who has been pursuing the highly rated Belgian under-21 internationalist for well over a year.

Musonda was coveted by a host of clubs – 24 in total in the current window – which would underline the coup enjoyed by Celtic in persuading the player that they can take him onto the next step of his development.

Read more: New Hoops signing Charly Musonda wants to "carry on the Celtic legend"

Any lingering questions over the potential seen in the playmaker would have been answered with Rodgers’ revelation that the player was wanted by Spanish giants Real Madrid after impressing against them on a loan spell with Real Betis.

“This is a boy who come in with quality,” said Rodgers. “I remember talking to Chelsea about him last year and the guys there were telling me that when he played for Real Betis against Real Madrid and the day after Real Madrid tried to buy him from Chelsea.

“That is the talent that he has. He has this remarkable skill and quality and he has speed with it as well. He is a young player that because of the talent it has been unfortunate for him because he hasn’t been able to get out on loan.

“His talent has kept him in and about their squad but eventually at some point he and Chelsea know that he has to go and play games and this is a great environment for him to come to.”

Musonda will join on an 18-month loan deal after a seven figure fee was agreed between the clubs for the player, with Celtic also paying a portion of his salary to Chelsea.

Celtic came close to getting him into the club last summer only for the Stamford Bridge club to block the move art the last minute but what the Parkhead side are getting is a player capable of making an immediate impact.

Rodgers has maintained throughout the window that he wished to come out of stronger than when he went in and with Musonda in on an 18-month deal, he is a player who should be fully bedded into the team in time for next summer’s Champions League qualifiers, games which underpin Celtic’s season in its entirety.

The Parkhead support can expect their first glance of the player this evening with Musonda expected to be part of the squad for the game against Hearts. The picture, though, is that he can expect to be a prominent figure at the club over the next year and a half.

“My idea is to bring genuine quality into the team,” said Rodgers. “I could have a whole list of players that I could bring here but it is the players who are going to make the difference that is important.

“This is a young player who is hungry now to play, who plays with great enjoyment in his game and he will feel that special connection now with the Celtic supporters and playing for this huge club.

“He’s one of those ones who excites you. Charley is the sort of boy who has an intent and a purpose to his game, he tries to be progressive and he carries the ball well. He can dribble and he also has a lovely weight of pass.

“It helps that he’s a very bright, super-intelligent lad. When you speak to him you can sense that through his ability to communicate.”

There have been some suggestions that bringing players in on loan deals isn’t ideal since it doesn’t guarantee any long-term stability. One rebuff of that is that often players do not stay at clubs for much longer than that but for Rodgers it is more about the fact it gives Celtic a platform to bring players in they could not otherwise afford.

Read more: Celtic look to Motherwell stopper Trevor Carson to plug the goalkeeper gap

Reluctant to put a price on what Musonda would command where he to move to Celtic, Rodgers believes that the player’s commitment to the club when he had so many other options suggests a willingness to work and improve under pressure and scrutiny.

“There are two ways of looking at it,” said Rodgers. “If you bring them in on loan then 1) for 18 months you’re adding quality to your squad and you know where you are for that period. You let the player get a feel for the club and then, maybe at the end of that time, you’ll have a chance of signing him.

“It might be that we just develop him for Chelsea but that will also help to develop this club. I did that with Gyllfi Sigurdsson at Swansea, whom I’d known well as an 18-year-old at Reading.

“When he got his move to Hoffenheim I took him on loan and let him get a sense of the Premier League. He loved it and, in fact, enjoyed it so much that he signed for us permanently.

“We probably couldn’t have bought him initially but we got the loan agreement done and ended up with him as our player. So I can understand the argument about developing another club’s player but you might never get a chance to sign a player like that otherwise.

“Especially with the way the market is now, that would be so tough. But these young boys can come here and improve under pressure and, at the end of it, you can assess it.”