BRENDAN Rodgers demands the very best of his Celtic players on every occasion they take to the field in either domestic or European competition.

So it should be no great surprise that he is asking just as much of his new Head of Recruitment Lee Congerton as he looks to strengthen his squad this summer.

Rodgers has charged Congerton with identifying raw talents with the ability to become as exceptional as Philippe Coutinho, Neymar and Alexandre Pato in time. No pressure Lee.

Yet, those were three of the players who his renowned talent spotter recommended he sign during his time as an academy coach at Chelsea - and he expects nothing less going forward.

The Scottish champions certainly have an impressive track record when it comes to unearthing hidden gems; Gary Hooper, Fraser Forster, Ki Sung-yueng, Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama were all signed for nominal sums and sold on for multi-million pound profits.

Moussa Dembele, the French striker who was signed for just £500,000 from Fulham last year, has been repeatedly linked with a £20 million move to Chelsea this summer.

But where will Congerton, a former talent spotter at Chelsea, Hamburg and Sunderland, look to unearth the new Dembele? What markets will he trawl to find the next bargain buy? How can he improve his team for minimal outlay?

Colin Chambers runs the International Professional Scouting Organisation along with former England internationalist Martin Dobson and Scotland striker Kevin Gallacher and trains scouts across Europe and in Asia.

Chambers stressed that Celtic will cast the net wide as they seek to improve on what has been, even by their high standards, an exceptional season and will scour the entire planet for potential signings.

“The world is a much smaller place with the advances which have been made in technology in recent years,” he said. “There are those rough diamonds all over the place, at every level, in every league in the world.

“A chief scout or a head of recruitment will have hundreds of contacts and scouts that they work with all over the world. Celtic will have a European scout and moreover they will probably have a scout covering France, a scout covering Portugal and Spain, a scout covering Scandinavia and a scout covering South America and so on.

“When a chief scout receives a recommendation on a player he will then use technology to his advantage, specifically Scout8 and Wyscout. They can see videos of every player around the world. You won’t recruit a player on the strength of a video, that would be ludicrous, crazy. But if you are an experienced scout, you will get a feel for a player.”

Chambers continued: “Different clubs have different philosophies when it comes to recruiting players. But, at the end of the day, a player is a player regardless of their nationality and irrespective of what country they come from, what continent they hail from and what league they are in. What is important is that your scout does his research and is able to tell you what their character and attitude.

“The world has changed. Countries used to be overlooked because their national teams were poor. Not any more. Clubs should be looking at every country in the world for players.

“We do a lot of work in Poland and a few years ago we recommended they sign a player in the Irish League. A club director said: ‘There are no good players in the Irish league. Come back when you’re serious’. He ended up signing for a Championship club for £2 million.

“Arsenal signed a non-league player in January (20-year-old left back Cohen Bramall moved to the Emirates Stadium from Hednesford Town). You have a got to look everywhere in senior football. You have to act swiftly. Every single club is looking for that rough diamond. Nobody wants to miss out.”

Celtic have, despite their success in the transfer market over the years and their financial stability, no chance of competing with rival clubs in the big five leagues in Europe in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain due to their inferior income from broadcasting.

Chambers, however, believes the Parkhead club, who are looking for an attacking midfielder, a right-sided midfielder and a central defender, should still look at the top divisions on the continent to recruit players, either on loan or in permanent deals.

He said: “Scouts should be looking at top clubs and asking: ‘Why’s is that player not playing?’ Very often, it is because a new manager has come in and the players doesn’t suit his style of play. But he might still walk into your team because of the way that you play.

“Look at Edin Dzeko. He has done brilliantly in Italy with Roma because he suits their style of play. He basically does what Diego Costa does with Chelsea, plays as a target man. There are bargains in every league in every country in the world.”

Yet, Chambers, a Premier League scout with over 15 years of experience who currently works for Middlesbrough, warned that the hard work only begins when a club signs a promising players with potential.

He explained that coaching staff must work in tandem with the scouting network in order for their acquisitions to fulfil their potential. “What is the point in taking a rough diamond to your club if you haven’t got a good coach there who can polish him?” he said.

“If the coaches who he then works under aren’t up to it then there is no point. Your coaching staff need to be as one with the scouting department. There is no point in a coach berating a player for his weaknesses. They have to know what they are getting.”

Chambers, though, believes that Celtic should have every confidence in Rodgers, who has nurtured Dembele brilliantly this season, being able to bring the best out of

“I can remember when Jordan Henderson signed for Liverpool for £20 million when he was just 20,” he said. “All the scouts in England were staggered. We all said: ‘He’s never worth that much! He’s just an athlete! He’s technically poor! What have Liverpool seen in him?’

“Well, Liverpool saw what we saw – but they knew they had coaches who could improve his weaknesses. They got that signing spot on. They worked wonders with him after Rodgers came in. He is now the complete player. That was the perfect example of a scouting and coaching department being on the same page. That is vital.”