HOOPS IN STUNNING MOVE FOR COUTINHO ..then Brendan Rodgers wakes up, boils the kettle and makes a bowl of coco pops

BRENDAN RODGERS played fantasy football and revealed he’s targeting Philippe Coutinho to bolster Celtic’s tilt at the Champions League.

However, PSG are playing for real after they signed Neymar in a deal worth at least five times the Stock Exchange value of the Parkhead club.

The Brazilian’s £400 million transfer package is fur coats and caviar as Rodgers prepares to the porridge of Premiership football today against

Hearts.

Sadly for Celtic fans,

Rodgers had his tongue stuck firmly in his cheek when he mentioned Liverpool’s brilliant attacker as an option ahead of the play-offs against FC Astana in a fortnight.

Rodgers displays no envy towards PSG boss Unai Emery. Neymar’s (above) left leg may be worth more than Celtic, but Rodgers would have given his right arm to take charge of his boyhood favourites and that will never change, no matter their more humble financial circumstances.

He said: “It’s an astronomical amount of money to pay for a wonder player, frightening really.

“Am I looking to bring someone in ahead of Astana? Yes, Coutinho. We’ll see, we’re looking but I will always wait for the right quality.

“Everyone tells you there is not a player worth anywhere near the value given to Neymar but my experience of the big clubs, big fees and big salaries is that, if they are paying that, they think they can get it back.

“If they are paying £198 million in a transfer fee, they obviously think they can get it back through shirts or TV. If they buy a £100m player they think, as a business, they will get at least £101m back. That’s how they work.

“It’s all relative. We are on a number of levels nowhere near that and obviously we go into Europe and play against stronger teams.

“We had Borussia Monchengladbach last year as the

‘third’ team in our group and they have a £120 million budget.

We are about £20 million.

“More money won’t guarantee anything but it can get you to that level.

We won’t win the Champions League but we have to do our best.

“It is always a big ask for us to qualify, whether we like it or not, but it is a big push for me this year.

European football is important in terms of developing the team.

“That’s the only real way in which you can gain the money, £25-£30 million, but

I want it for the club, for our journey together.

“I have never been somebody just to maintain. I want to build.”

FANTASY FOOTBALL Brendan Rodgers had Coutinho under his wing at Liverpool