IT’S A NAME has gone down in modern club folklore.
Brendan Rodgers regarded him as a world class talent in the making when he signed him.
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He’d been watching him for four years – since the player was 15 years old.
Now though? Aged 29 he’s woken up a free man after being transfer-listed by his club.
Teams in Saudi Arabia and the USA are keen and with no transfer fee to arrange a move from Europe looks on the cards for the striker.
He’s perhaps not quite become the world class frontman Rodgers expected him to be back in 2014 – but he’s carved out a good career with some special moments.
Liverpool fans won’t forget his goal in the 2019 Champions League Final – nor his dramatic goal in the epic semi-final comeback against Barcelona.
Now at AC Milan – though not for much longer – Divock Origi is still revered on Merseyside where he was once tipped for stardom by current Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.
It was the Northern Irish boss who took him to Anfield in 2014 – signing the Belgian from Lille and loaning him back.
Rodgers said: “Divock is a big talent. He is one that when we signed him, part of the deal was that he had to stay at Lille.
“He had broken through to the Belgian team as a youngster, showed his talents and we spotted him.”
Rodgers even tipped him to step in to the void created by Luis Suarez’s move to Barcelona.
He said: “There are very few players who can replace Suarez. Actually there are no players who can replace Suarez.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail he explained: “When you look at the availability of other players during the summer, it was something that was difficult for us.
“It’s no good now I know but we took a player in Divock Origi who we believe will be world class and we’ll get him in the summer.
“Now he is a top player. He has everything: the speed, the profile and so on and he (could) play (for Liverpool) now.”
Origi did – 175 times – and scored 41 goals before moving to AC Milan two years ago.
He spent the second half of last season on loan at Nottingham Forest but now he’s free to leave the San Siro, ten years after Rodgers’ world class tag.
After splashing out £8.5m on Adam Idah, a reunion is possibly not on the cards but the boss has been a fan in the past – of the player AND his dad.
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Rodgers added: “We had him at Melwood, the scouting team there had a wonderful presentation showing him from 15 years of age and we showed him how we would like to progress his game.
“He is a great guy, he has a dad who had a great history in the game as well.”
Divock’s old man, Mike, is a Kenyan international but played for Belgian clubs including Genk and KV Oostende where Divock was born.
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And his cousin Arnold is a 48-time capped keeper, currently at Ostersunds in Sweden.
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