Why Divock Origi Was Liverpool’s Most Surprising Player in 2015/16

The 2015/16 season was full of surprises for Liverpool—most notably the arrival of world-class manager Jurgen Klopp—but on the field of play, the development of 21-year-old striker Divock Origi perhaps stands as the biggest shock of the campaign.

Klopp arrived in October, taking over for the departing Brendan Rodgers, and set in motion an improvement in fortunes on Merseyside, including reaching the finals of the UEFA Europa League and the Capital One Cup.

The German has instilled a winning mentality in the club—despite defeat in both showpiece clashes and an eighth-place Premier League finish—that suggests there is success to come in the years ahead.

At the centre of this projected future glory is Origi, whose rise through the ranks under Klopp will have taken most by surprise in 2015/16.

When Liverpool sanctioned the £10 million signing of Origi from Lille in 2014, supporters were well aware of the talent the striker possessed.

Signing for the Reds directly after featuring in all five of Belgium’s clashes at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, including a goalscoring display in the Red Devils’ 1-0 win over Russia on their way to quarter-finals, Origi was lauded as one of Europe’s brightest young prospects.

“He is very gifted and talented. Technically, he’s a monster. More importantly, he is an outstanding worker in training. I see him working like crazy,” Belgian centre-back Vincent Kompany enthused, as relayed by the Liverpool Echo’s Kristian Walsh.

“If he continues in this way, in a few years he will be among the five or 10 best strikers in the world.”

This came as high praise from a defender who plays his club football alongside the sensational Sergio Aguero at Manchester City, and Liverpool rightly tucked away their potential star away from the spotlight—returning him to Lille on a season-long loan.

But spending the 2014/15 with the Ligue 1 side, Origi undermined his status as a future world-class striker, scoring eight goals and laying on four assists in 33 league games and was …

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