Brendan Rodgers jokes that Liverpool flop Mario Balotelli is the best player he has worked with
The Hoops gaffer was in good spirits at the club's Player of the Year awards last night when he made the tongue-in-cheek claim
BRENDAN RODGERS has joked that Mario Balotelli is the best player he's ever trained.
The Celtic gaffer was in good spirits at the club's Player of the Year awards on Sunday night when he made the tongue-in-cheek claim.
During a Q and A the former Liverpool and Swansea boss was asked by a Hoops fan, who the best player he has coached was.
He laughed: "Mario Balotelli! He was a fantastic player."
The response was met the hilarity from the huge crowd at the Double Tree Hilton hotel in Glasgow.
Rodgers has admitted he never wanted to bring the Italian to Liverpool, revealing he was signed by the club's transfer committee.
The Hoops boss added: "As a manager who has worked with fantastic players throughout my career I would never say one individual because each club has its own personality and players, the types of players, the iconic players, all I want to see is a player just maximising his talent."
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Celtic are just one game away from the Treble have already wrapped up the title and lifted the League Cup.
And Rodgers revealed he has never enjoyed working in football as much as he has at Parkhead.
He said: "What I will say, is coming to work with the group of players I have this year, having had the good fortune and privilege of working in the Premier League in England, this is the most enjoyable spell of my life as a coach.
"For me it’s just an honour, when you’re born into a family which has Celtic in their heart, of course that lives with you, so I’m very proud and honoured to be here.
"The season so far has been fantastic."
Rodgers may be delighted with his current crop of stars but there is one player from the past he'd love to add to his squad.
The Parkhead boss was quizzed about which Celtic legend he'd love to have playing for him and he opted for Paul McStay.
Rodgers said: "There have been so many great players over the course of Celtic’s history.
"But I suppose growing up the one player for me who always found the answer and always made you so excited and that was Paul McStay.
"He was an incredible player at that time it was tough for the team, but his skill and quality and loyalty to Celtic, you always heard of him being linked with other clubs, but he knew he was in a good place, a fantastic player."
Celtic won by their biggest ever margin at .
Hoops fans lapped up the win over their Old Firm rivals and Rodgers reckons days like that rank as highly as winning silverware for supporters.
He said: "Any Celtic supporter will tell you, you can win a trophy you can win a league title, you can maybe even win a European Cup, but to win at Ibrox and make history like we did is an incredible feeling.
"The players were excellent, the supporters were excellent and it’s gone down as a history making day, with the goals that we scored.
"They’ve just been getting better and better during the season. There is not a training group anywhere in Britain that are working as hard as these guys and they are getting their rewards."