Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard will be the benchmark for the Hoops squad to aspire to, according to new Celtic assistant manager, Chris Davies.

Brendan Rodgers’ number two checked into Celtic Park yesterday afternoon as he re-ignited his professional relationship with the Irishman.

And after working with Rodgers at Anfield, Davies has insisted that Gerrard has led the way in terms of the level of professionalism which will be encouraged at Celtic.

“Gerrard I can’t speak highly enough of – as a person, a footballer, a professional, everything,” said Davies.

“He’s set the benchmark for me in terms of professionalism. That’s away from his natural ability and what he created for himself for a player. It was just the way he was – the way he treated people and how professional he was. That’s given me a lot of confidence to move forward.

“I’d a great relationship with Stevie. I’m still in touch with him.”

Gerrard is currently contracted to LA Galaxy until the end of the year and there was inevitable speculation about him linking up with Rodgers at Celtic Park, something that Davies was coy on.

“I think he’s finishing up later in the year,” he said.”I don’t know what his plans are when he gets back. He’s going to be a really good manager one day.”

And the Hoops number two is looking forward to re-acquainting himself with Rangers manager Mark Warburton and former Ibrox and Everton defender David Weir – and Davies is keen to maintain a decent track record in the derby games.

“I know Mark and David,” he said. “The bottom line is it’s a huge rivalry between the two clubs. They are going to be great games. We had a great record at Liverpool against Everton. We’d some really top performances in those games.

“This is a huge rivalry here so I can’t wait for those games to kick in.

“We know there’s so much passion and emotion involved. You can start projecting forward but one thing that’s important to us is we focus on the next day, the next training session, the next game. If you do that right and you keep the level high then the good things will come.”

And Davies has insisted that Rodgers will not be content to win with Celtic but rather he wants to win but in a certain way.

“That’s a hand in glove fit for Brendan,” he said. “He’s never happy if you just win. He always wants to win with a style and with a way of playing. That’s really exciting.

“That suits us and that’s what we want to do. We want to be a team that’s creative and confident in the attack. We’re going to try and implement that and really try and win in style with entertaining and attacking football. But the most important thing is to win the game.”