Divock Origi retired his announcement from professional football on Monday, having spent six seasons at Liverpool between 2014 and 2022 (plus two loan spells away from Anfield).
The Belgian became famed for scoring some of the most famous goals of the Jurgen Klopp era, including a double in the epic 4-0 win over Barcelona in 2019, the clincher in that year’s Champions League final, and a stoppage-time Merseyside derby winner.
However, prior to his legendary contributions in the 2018/19 campaign, he’d been something of a bit-part player for the Reds, and he’s now revealed that he had been on the cusp of leaving LFC permanently following his loan at Wolfsburg in the previous season.
As he confirmed his retirement and reflected on his career for The Players’ Tribune, Origi recalled the summer of 2018 when he was poised to join newly-promoted Wolves, only for his deep-rooted faith to convince him to remain with Liverpool.
The 31-year-old wrote: ‘I will tell you something I never shared before publicly. When I came back from Wolfsburg, I was supposed to leave Liverpool. Wolverhampton came with an offer of £30m, and it made sense to go. I was out of the team. I wasn’t playing at all.
‘But when I prayed about it, for some reason it didn’t feel right. Something kept telling me to stay, and that’s when my faith kicked in. I can’t explain it, but I just felt like Liverpool was where God wanted me to be. I thought, It might not make sense now, but something good will come from this.’
Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
We can be forever grateful for that moment of divine intervention eight years ago, as without it, many of Origi’s greatest Liverpool memories would never have occurred.
There’d be no derby winner in front of the Kop, no completion of the comeback against Barcelona, no late winner at Newcastle in the epic 2018/19 title race. Ironically, he haunted Wolves with a last-gasp strike at Molineux in December 2021 – how easily he could’ve been scoring against the Reds that day if fate had transpired differently.
The Belgian was unfortunate on a personal level to find himself at Anfield at the same time as the iconic front three of Mo Salah, Bobby Firmino and Sadio Mane, which meant that he was frequently consigned to a backup role in Jurgen Klopp’s great LFC team.
Had that 2018/19 version of him been in the Liverpool squad during the most recent campaign, when Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak were both ravaged by serious injuries, he’d have been vital for Arne Slot’s side.
The summer of 2018 turned out to be a sliding doors moment in Origi’s career, and it was one which very much broke our way, considering what was to follow in the subsequent 12 months!
Welcome to our Live Comments section, where new comments will appear automatically
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email.
