A+ for groundless optimism.
Liverpool’s newest striker, Divock Origi, arrives on Merseyside later this summer and, fair play to him, he is aiming for the top.
When the Belgian was signed by Liverpool, the club were coming off their best season in a decade and had narrowly missed out on the Premier League title. Luis Suarez was off to Barcelona but Reds boss Brendan Rodgers had more than £100m to spend on new talent.
Origi was loaned back to Lille for a season – after all, Liverpool had Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini [Sunderland’s relegation saviour] and, fresh off a World Cup, Rickie Lambert.
One year on and Liverpool are facing into an uncertain season – they will ply their midweek trade in the Europa League, Sturridge is out until mid-October, they have missed out on a couple of transfer targets and their boss has already been involved in crunch talks with the club’s powers that be.
Still, Origi has high hopes for 2015/16.
He told Sky Sports, ‘ I think Liverpool is a wonderful club that deserves to be at the top and, to be honest, with the players they have, with the quality they have, then they should be finishing at the top of the league.
‘I’m very happy to be going there. Brendan Rodgers is a very good coach and he has proved that so it will be very exciting to work with a world class coach.’
Origi only managed eight goals in France’s Ligue 1 last season and was included in L’Equipe’s ‘Worst XI of the Season’. Undeterred by criticism, the 20-year-old believes he can be a success at Anfield.
He commented, ‘At Liverpool I had a really good feeling and they have experience of working with young players… The important thing is that I work hard and then I think everything will be okay.’
