Rodgers: Luis can be like Coutinho
Brendan Rodgers has spoken of his joy at the capture of Luis Alberto from Sevilla – and insisted he can see similarities between the Spaniard and Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho.
The 20-year-old signed a long-term deal with the Reds, subject to international clearance, on Saturday morning.
Rodgers was delighted to complete the transfer and believes Alberto can follow in the footsteps of January signing Coutinho, who made an instant impact at Anfield after arriving from Inter Milan.
The boss told talkSPORT: "He's another Coutinho-type. We brought in young Philippe Coutinho in January when he was 20 years of age but he had good experience and more importantly fitted the profile of what we're trying to do here and what we're trying to build.
"Young Luis is exactly the same - a talented, very highly-rated young player when he was at Sevilla, but obviously spent last season at Barcelona B.
"He's a big talent and one for now that can play. He's got competitive games behind him and is one we see progressing over the next few years.
"Importantly, he knows the type of game and model we're trying to work in."
LFC TV Online subscribers can watch our first interview with Luis Alberto exclusively online now. Need a subscription? Click here to sign up>>
Alberto is Liverpool's third piece of incoming transfer business so far this summer after the club also agreed deals in principle for Manchester City centre-back Kolo Toure and Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas.
Rodgers added: "Kolo Toure is a player I've admired since he came into the Premier League. He was a wonderful servant for Arsenal and a part of that 'Invincibles' group and did exceptionally well, and in the transformation of Manchester City, they brought him in as one of their key players.
"We're losing an absolute colossal player in Jamie Carragher, who was absolutely brilliant for me. It's very, very hard to replace that type.
"Kolo Toure will give us that experience and winning mentality. He's still very fit, very strong and will come in, offer that support and fight for his place in the team.
"Iago Aspas was one of the stars for Celta Vigo. He's a goalscorer, he's quick, dynamic, aggressive in his game and has a winning mentality.
"I feel these are the types of players that can come into Liverpool and keep our momentum moving forward. Players that are hungry to succeed, because that's important for us.
"We have to bring in players that are willing to fight for the shirt and these players are very much hungry to do that."
Having been busy in the transfer market so far this pre-season, Rodgers was eager to pay tribute to the work going on behind the scenes at Anfield to ensure Liverpool land their targets.
Indeed, the manager admits the Reds entered into the summer break consciously looking to get their business done as quickly as possible.
"There has been a lot of great work gone on over the last six months," explained Rodgers. "We wanted to get as much of our work done as early as we possibly could for the summer so we could get the group back in and get the players together as quickly as we can.
"It's been a good summer for us so far."
He continued: "I think every club and every manager would love to get it [transfer business] done as early as they possibly could. We had made a conscious effort this summer to do that.
"It's great credit to everyone at the club and our recruitment team, our analytical team, Ian Ayre our managing director and the owners who have backed us really well.
"There has been a lot of work that has gone on and a lot of people sacrificing holidays to ensure we can get the players in we want."