Liverpool are hopeful of shifting the now 26-year-old striker but a proposed £20M asking price seems steep.
For many Liverpool fans, there will always be a fond place in their memories for Divock Origi. For late heroics against Everton. For his role in the comeback against Barcelona. For sealing number six in the Champions League against Tottenham.
Those memories, though, are mostly two seasons in the past, and last year in particular was a difficult one for Origi, with the now 26-year-old striker playing just 181 league minutes for the Reds—and so finding him a new home this summer is a priority.
According to The Mirror, one potential landing spot could be Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Wolves needing striker reinforcements and said to have Origi on their list. There have also been links to West Ham, suggesting at least some domestic interest.
Talk of a £20M price tag for Origi, though, seems high in the current depressed transfer market, especially when one considers that he only has a Liverpool contract running through next summer—meaning he’s down to the final year of his deal.
There was a time, after those heroics against Everton and his role in the comeback against Barcelona and in sealing number six against Spurs when that kind of a fee might have made sense. Now, in this market with a year left on his contract, it doesn’t.
If there really is a desire to refresh the squad, to add new depth and perhaps players who can grow into starters in a season or two, Origi will likely have to move on this summer in order to make room in the squad to register that new depth.
For Origi, too, it would seem as though he’s reached a point where if he has any aspirations of starting regularly for a team in one of Europe’s top five leagues, now is the summer he simply has to move on. It will be interesting to see if he does.
