Brendan Rodgers lifts lid on Celtic return discovery that has left him 'pleasantly surprised'

Brendan Rodgers admits he has been "pleasantly surprised" by the standard of young players at Celtic after inviting them to train with the first-team during the first week of pre-season.

The returning boss is still without his international stars - who have been given an extended break and will start their pre-season when the squad flies to Portugal this week - so has had the opportunity to run the rule over the club’s potential stars of the future at Lennoxtown.

He told Celtic TV: “Normally, now in the modern game, very rarely do you get your players back at the one time.

“So that always gives you a chance to see the young players, and I’ve got to say I’ve been really impressed with, both the established guys in the first-team squad.

Manager Brendan Rodgers during a Celtic training session at Lennoxtown this week. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

"They’ve been excellent, their attitude is outstanding and they’ve come back in really, really good condition, so they are back already fit that gives us the chance to really build on that, and the young players.

“Of course a lot of them I haven’t known and they’ve been pleasantly surprising and really, really good. Sometimes a young player can come in and suffer with the intensity of training with the first team, but they’ve all coped really, really well and that’s been pleasing.”

Rodgers, who is back at Celtic for a second spell in charge after replacing Ange Postecoglou, added: “It feels like coming back to family, if I’m honest.

"I’ve been given a great welcome back and it’s been great to see a lot of faces, obviously that were here when I was here the last time, so it feels really good.”