Champions League hero ‘needs to leave’ as part of Liverpool exodus
Liverpool’s forgotten forward Divock Origi has been tipped to leave the club this summer by a leading football journalist.
The 26-year-old barely featured for the Reds in 2020-2021, making just two starts among nine Premier League appearances. The Belgium international played four times in the Champions League and got a run out in domestic cup competitions. But it is an unsatisfactory situation that a player who arrived to much fanfare is now on the peripheries.
Origi was signed from Lille in the summer of 2014 but spent the following season back on loan with the French club. His first full season at Anfield reaped 10 goals in all competitions and he bettered that by one the following campaign.
He was seeing plenty of first-team action but the decision was made to loan him to Bundesliga club Wolfsburg for 2017-18. The Ostend-born ace scored six goals from 31 top-flight outings before heading back to Merseyside.
And it has been a case of one step forward and two back, with only 13 league starts across the last three seasons. He was mainly used off the bench but made a telling contribution to Liverpool’s Champions League triumph of 2018-19.
The Belgian scored twice as Jurgen Klopp’s men staged a memorable comeback to beat Barcelona in the semi-finals. And he then scored the second goal as they beat Tottenham 2-0 in the final.
His European exploits have written his name into club folklore. But Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano believes he may have kicked his last ball for the north-west giants.
Speaking on his ‘Here We Go’ podcast, he said: “Origi can leave the club, yes. He’s one of the players who needs to leave the club, yes.
“Let’s see if a proposal around £20m is going to arrive, but he’s one of the players who could leave the club.”
Origi among many Anfield exits
There is no doubt that it was a challenging season for Klopp, with the German having to deal with many injuries. The Reds title defence fell apart after the turn of the year and it took a strong end to make the top four.
Reports claim the number of departures could reach double figures. Origi has been linked with Newcastle United and Inter Milan.
He is under contract until 2024 and Liverpool will want to at least recoup the £11m they spent on his signature. Xherdan Shaqiri is another player thought to be vulnerable to a summer exit as, like Origi, he is down the pecking order.
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