Divock Origi

Divock Origi is a Belgian professional footballer who was born on April 18, 1995 in Ostend, Belgium. He plays as a striker. He is the son of former Kenyan professional footballer Mike Origi.

Background

Origi began playing football at Genk Youth Academy in 2001 where he spent nine years before signing for French club LOSC Lille in May 2010 at the age of 15.

He later began his senior club career with Lille B team where he played 11 games for them in which he scored twice.

Origi also represented Belgium at the U15, U16, U17, U19 and U21 level but his noticeable performance only came for Belgium U19 where he scored 10 goals for them in 19 matches where the first one came during 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifications match against Belarus on October 12, 2012.

Debut

In May 2014, Origi was selected in the 23-man squad of the Belgium representing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He made his debut as a substitute for Romelu Lukaku in the 58th minute in a Group H game against Algeria in Belo Horizonte on June 17.

His first senior international goal came in their second match in a 1-0 victory against Russia. After doing so, he became the youngest (19 years, 2 months and 4 days old) goal scorer of the tournament until American winger Julian Green broke his record.

Rise to glory

Origi spent a successful time with Liverpool where he scored 12 goals in 51 games that he played with them. His first goals for them came in the form of a hattrick in a 6-1 away win over Southampton in the quarter finals of the League Cup.

Later he was chosen ahead of Sturridge who was their first choice striker by their manager Jurgen Klopp and there he proved his worth by scoring vital goals against Borussia Dortmund and Stoke City.

Club career

He began his club career with Lille in January 2013 where he was mainly unused. He made his debut for them in February in a match against Troyes where he came in as a substitute for Ronny Rodelin and scored a scored a goal to help them win 1-0.

In July 2014, Origi joined Premier League club Liverpool for a reported transfer fee of £10 million but he was Immediately loaned back to Lille for the 2014-15 Ligue 1 season.

During 2014-15 season, Origi did score a hattrick in a 3-0 winning league match against rennes but Lille was ruled out after they lost 0-3 to VfL Wolfsburg.

He made his debut in the Premier League for Liverpool against their rivals Manchester United where they lost the match 3-1 in which he came as a substitute for Danny Ings for the final 16 minutes.

He played many matches later with Liverpool where he scored many match defining goals and a hattrick for them.

On August 31, 2017, for 2017-18 Bundesliga season, Origi joined VfL Wolfsburg on a season long loan deal.

Records

Divock Origi was named as the 'Belgian Sportsman Promising Talent of the Year’ in 2014.