Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has hailed the work of Brendan Rodgers since his arrival at Celtic last summer.
The 44-year-old stands on the brink of leading Celtic to a first domestic treble in well over a decade, while they are also within 90 minutes of finishing the entire domestic campaign unbeaten.
Celtic cruised to the Scottish Premiership title this season, finishing an incredible 30 points clear of second-placed Aberdeen, who they must face in the Scottish Cup Final on Saturday.
But Nicholas believes the transformation Rodgers has incurred within the Celtic squad has seen him ‘exceed expectation, reserving particular praise for his work on defender Dedryck Boyata.
The 26-year-old had been frozen out of the first-team setup at Parkhead, only for Rodgers to reinstate him as a key player for the second-half of the campaign. He finished the season with five goals from 21 appearances.
Nicholas criticised the defender for having ‘looked like he couldn’t run last season’, but praised the former Liverpool and Swansea chief for making him look like a ‘decent defender.’
He told Sky Sports: “Rodgers has exceeded expectations. When he realised what team he had, when they were struggling against sides in the Champions League qualifiers, he realised what a mess they were.
“He added Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Craig Gordon and he’s improved every player there. Dedryck Boyata looked like he couldn’t run last season and now he looks a decent defender.
“Can he take them on to the next level? That’s the real judgement for them.”
Boyata, who has been capped twice by Belgium, arrived at Celtic from Premier League giants Manchester City in June 2015.
Meanwhile, two of Rodgers’ summer signings – Dembele and Sinclair – have proven to be particularly inspired purchases for the club.
Sinclair, 28, contributed 25 goals and 11 assists from his 49 appearances in all competitions this season. Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Dembele added 32 goals and nine assists from the same number of appearances.