Brendan Rodgers is on the verge of completing a sensational return to Celtic.

The ratification of the Northern Irishman's appointment for a second managerial stint at the Hoops is imminent.

The former Liverpool boss, who came within an ace of winning the English Premier League in 2014, guided Celtic to seven domestic trophies out of seven from 2016- 2019 but quit to join Leicester City just as the club were on the cusp of a third consecutive treble.

He took the Foxes to their first-ever FA Cup success in 2021 as well as the Community Shield and guided Leicester to back-to-back top-five finishes in the league before leaving the club in earlier this year as they languished in the relegation zone.

Having worked with some top players and managed against some great coaches it is worth looking at what some of the top professionals in the game have to say about Brendan Rodgers.

Harry Maguire

The England international spoke about Rodgers in 2019 when he was linked with the Manchester United job as a replacement for Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. Maguire had worked with Rodgers at Leicester City.

"He's a really good coach who will improve us as a team massively. The club has shown really great ambition in luring him here.

"He breeds confidence into players, he's helping to bring the younger players through, does a lot of work on the training pitch and his man-management is really top. He's made a really big impact."

James Maddison

The Leicester midfielder took to Twitter and wrote the following message when Rodgers lost his job at the King Power Stadium in April 2023.

"Thank you, Gaffer, A top manager & even more importantly a brilliant and caring man. Your impact on my career and life outside of football is something I’ll be grateful for forever. Good luck with whatever is next."

Luis Suarez

The Uruguayan striker was part of Rodgers's Liverpool side that fell at the last hurdle in the 2014 title race. Suarez shed some light on his time playing under Rodgers, including his 2012 infamous 'envelopes' tactic when he spoke in 2019 after he had released his autobiography

"There was a group of us sitting there, and Glen Johnson came over and said: 'I know who’s in the envelopes. I know what’s written on all three pieces of paper.' Who? What?" It was unusual and I must admit that for a moment I did think: “How can you think before the season has even started that there are three people who are going to let you down?

"Rodgers was interested in Spain, he had studied there, and what he’d learned there was at the heart of our style of play: passing, pressuring high, quick movement, arriving into the area rather than standing there waiting for it, coming inside from wide positions.

"The way he coached us during my time there was impressive and I am sure that the methods I enjoyed and found so effective will continue to be employed. Everything Brendan does is built towards perfecting the mechanics of football and making adjustments for the next game or to fulfil a particular objective."

Steven Gerrard

The former Liverpool skipper, whose accidental slip against Chelsea at Anfield inadvertently cost the Reds the title in 2014,  ended up facing his old mentor in the technical area when he became the manager of Rangers whilst Rodgers was at Celtic during his first stint at Parkhead.

"I tried to take a lot of things away from Brendan. He was a really good man-manager with the way he spoke to players and dealt with them. That was really impressive. More importantly, on the training pitch, his delivery was really slick. There was good organisation in his sessions and the way he used to set his team up. I was really impressed with his player-to-coach relationship."

READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers's five Celtic hurdles he must overcome

Moussa Dembele:

The ex-Celtic striker enjoyed a decent relationship at the start with Rodgers after he signed from Fulham. While the two had a successful working relationship for two seasons, it all came to a head in the third campaign when a fallout occurred between both men. Dembele took to Twitter to post a series of tweets when Rodgers quit Celtic for Leicester in February 2019 as he claimed the Northern Irishman was not all he made himself out to be.

"I told you". Interesting. And if you don't know now, you know I told you."

"A man without his word is nothing. A real man keeps his word."

Scott Brown:

The former Hoops captain waxed lyrical about his former boss on the Celtic Star podcast in 2021 about the virtues of Rodgers.

"He changed everything about Celtic. Our diet, how we looked on the outside to people looking in. We all wore the same training gear, we looked smart, and nobody had headphones or earrings in at training. We all looked as sharp as we possibly could and it all looked professional. That's what he brought to this club and what he brought to me. Nights out stopped until we started winning silverware.

"My whole thing as captain was to make sure we worked extremely hard, the diet was good, the body fat was good and we were as fit as we have ever been and we lost our first game in Gibraltar to Lincoln Red Imps! He told us not to bother about it as it was one result and we would build from there.

"What we did at training was incredible in terms of hard work and working on shape and fitness. It took everybody's game to the next level in terms of our understanding too. We did not just turn up and hope for the best it was based on proper tactics on how we were going to play, keep possession, we were going to create more chances and overloads on the left and right and he show us all of this on the video as well as go through every opponent's strengths and weaknesses individually.

"We were fed so much information and it was those small details and simple things which were all very good and in turn, allowed us to win games."

Callum McGregor:

The Celtic skipper spoke to the club website in 2022 and cited Rodgers as a huge influence on his career to date.

"I think I sort of had the personality where I just always wanted to win. Always wanted to be the best. No matter what it was; in training, I wanted to win. If it was sprints, I wanted to win that, if it was technical, I wanted to win that. So I know I’ve always had that competitive edge. The raw traits were there. It’s then once you get full-time, learning how to conduct yourself, and how to train properly.

"You have good influences as you’re coming up and as you’re growing up. I’ve had two of the best influences in Brendan [Rodgers] and Scott [Brown] as well. I had them take you on to that sort of leadership, how to speak to people, how to behave. A lot of it’s down to the people that influence you as well. I’ve always had that rawness but it’s then trying to fine-tune it.”

READ MORE: Carter-Vickers and Starfelt: Celtic partnership magic sets them apart

Patrick Roberts:

The former Celtic winger spoke to the media about the influence Rodgers had on him and his career back in 2017.

"I didn’t really know what to expect at Celtic and I didn’t play for the first couple of months. I played reserve games and stuff, then got an opportunity and ended up scoring about six goals and winning the league. Then they changed managers and Brendan Rodgers came in.

"He was great, he helped me a lot and he played me in a lot of matches and tried to improve my game. I really felt I belonged somewhere and with a manager who takes care of his players, not just me. He wanted to improve us, not just for Celtic, but in general. I felt that.

"In the Premier League, Guardiola is playing the football he's played at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The gaffer( Rodgers) here is similar, he tries to play football at every opportunity, even when we're under pressure, and he's instilled that in every player. We're always getting better at it and that's down to the manager."

Pep Guardiola

The Manchester City boss spoke about the relationship he had with Rodgers when he was linked with the Manchester United job in 2021.

"I’m honoured to say we have an incredible relationship. We text sometimes, and we call sometimes. Throughout his long career, always his teams, the way he plays or decides to play, that’s Brendan. I would never judge and never will do it. It’s our duty to adapt to that."

Jose Mourinho

The Special One was another who appreciated the work and achievements that Rodgers has amassed in his career to date and he spoke in glowing terms about him before the two sides met in the Europa Conference League semi-final in 2022.

"Brendan doesn’t surprise me. With Liverpool, people forget what he did with much, much fewer resources than Liverpool has now. He did amazing and then he wrote Scottish history with Celtic. People forget that because people don’t focus much on the Scottish Premier League. To win the FA Cup with Leicester and even the Community Shield, the stability in the club, the way they play, their recruitment, it is a perfect fit, Leicester and Brendan; very, very good.”

READ MORE: Celtic will be more efficient under Brendan Rodgers - James Dailey

Jurgen Klopp

The Liverpool boss praised Rodgers, along with several other managers who were sacked last season.

"It’s been a strange week. It was Antonio Conte last week then Julian Nagelsmann... and now Graham Potter and Brendan Rodgers. The season gets to a decisive part and people are afraid of maybe not reaching their targets. For all four of those I just mentioned, their football future is still bright so it’s not a disaster, just a situation they probably won’t like but it’s part of the business.”