The 21-year-old opened the scoring in the 3-0 triumph over Thailand on the club's tour of the Far East and Australia, his third goal of pre-season.

Coutinho pulled the strings in a comfortable victory, and Rodgers admitted that the forward is the kind of player he loves to watch.

"Coutinho had me up off my seat," he told the Liverpool Echo. "He's a player you would pay money to watch. He's just a delight on the ball."

However, it is not just the Brazilian that has the Northern Irishman upbeat ahead of the new campaign, with new signing Iago Aspas also impressing.

Forward Aspas signed from Celta Vigo last month and Rodgers has been pleased with his contribution so far after he also netted in the Thailand victory.

"The idea was that Aspas would give us another dimension up there and he's done that," he continued.

"He's a very effective player. Sometimes he's not always easy on the eye but when you actually monitor how efficient he is - he creates goals and scores goals.

"It was a lovely touch into space by him for his goal and he finished really well. Then he showed good vision to set up Stevie, who finished magnificently."