He may have faked an injury and supposedly refused to play, but Philippe Coutinho knows he owes a lot to Liverpool following his £142 million move to Barcelona.

Signed in 2013 from Inter Milan for just £8.5 million, the Brazilian developed into a world-class midfielder during his five-year stay at Anfield.

And now he's living the dream by playing alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta for one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Coutinho played his best football at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, but there's an argument to be made Brendan Rodgers made more of an impact on his development.

It was Rodgers who took a risk with the 25-year-old five years ago and he was duly rewarded for showing faith in a player who couldn't even get into Inter's starting XI at the time.

Well, Coutinho has now repaid that faith by doing something rather lovely for Rodgers on the day his move to Barcelona was finally confirmed.

According to Rodgers, who spoke to the Daily Record about Coutinho joining Barca, the Brazil international sent him a "nice" text when he arrived in Catalonia.

"He sent me a nice text the other day when he was arriving in Barcelona," said Rodgers. "He is a great young guy, he was never a problem for me. He was a magical player to work with.

"It's brilliant for both as he is a Barcelona player if ever there was one."

Class. Coutinho clearly hasn't forgotten his roots and one assumes his text to Rodgers was to thank the Celtic manager for helping him get to where he is today.

"We kept in contact ever since we left," added Rodgers. "Before he came over to Liverpool, he was low in confidence. I believed in his ability. It was clear what he was.

"If you see him play now, he played like that when he was an 11-year-old child, if you see videos of him playing Futsal.

"He was exactly the same. But he needed that belief. He came in and developed and improved. He was outstanding for me and a real humble boy.

"He will go and join Luis [Suarez] now. They both got on very well. He is in the middle of his asset age, so he's going to light it up there for the next eight, nine, ten years.

"A brilliant player who works really hard and never forgets his roots."