BR: Why I bracketed Raheem with the best
Brendan Rodgers expanded on his assertions that Liverpool's versatile attacking force, Raheem Sterling, is presently one of European football's brightest young stars.
Having watched Sterling turn in a masterful display against Norwich City at Carrow Road on Sunday, Rodgers placed the Academy graduate on a par with any of the game's aspiring youngsters.
Such high praise seemed justified after Sterling had taken his goal tally for the season to nine by racing forward in trademark fashion and driving home a stunning opener past the Canaries.
With Norwich resurgent in the tie, he came to the fore once again, seizing a sloppy pass before slaloming forward and slotting home with the help of a deflection to net the decisive strike in the 3-2 win.
It was another vintage display which belied Sterling's tender years and yet it was merely the latest in a long list of stand-out performances from the 19-year-old so far this season.
"I made a comment last week that I think he's one of the best young players in European football at the moment and I didn't say it lightly or without thinking," Rodgers told reporters at Melwood.
"This is a 19-year-old kid at one of the leading clubs in the world, playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
"And if you look around Europe, you look around the Premier League and at some of our rivals around us, there's no young players playing [at that level]. You go into Europe and into some of the top leagues, the French, the Spanish and the German, there's not many young players playing.
"Raheem is 19; he's scored 10 goals as a winger. He's been assisting goals and showing a maturity way beyond his years. Whether he's playing in front of five supporters or 500,000 supporters, he'll still be the same.
"He is just maturing into a wonderful young man as well as maturing as a footballer. Hopefully he can maintain that and keep working towards that, which he is doing. If he can, we've got an outstanding young player here and will have for a number of years."