Former striker Divock Origi became a Reds legend, in the manager Jurgen Klopp’s opinion, since he accepted a smaller position because all he wanted was to be a part of the team.
After making just 36 starts in his first season with the Premier League’s biggest team, Origi had been loaned out to Wolfsburg for two seasons after joining from Lille. The now 28-year-old made a comeback in 2018 and contributed significantly to the club’s success during the following four years before leaving on a free transfer to AC Milan.
In the 2018–19 season, Origi became a cult favourite after scoring crucial goals in both the Liverpool championship game and the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. During the same season, he also scored victories in the Premier League against Everton as well as Newcastle United.
However, Klopp mentioned in a Secrets of Success podcast episode from Sky Sports that one of the things that made the Belgian a club icon was his mentality. He went on to say that he had apologised to Origi several times for not offering him additional time on the field.
Jurgen Klopp said, “Divock is a very special person. I love him to bits. I’m not sure how often I apologised to him that he’s not playing more. He was a massive part of this team – a massive part of this team – and the team let him feel that. He felt completely comfortably. During the week [in training] one of the most important players we had and during the weekend still, but didn’t play as often as he should have.”
“He wanted to be part of this incredible club” : Jurgen Klopp on Divock Origi
The German Manager said that, “That we had the relationship we had for the long time we worked together was much more up to Divock than to me. I would have understood 1,000% if he would have said at one point ‘Hey boss, it’s a nice spell but it’s not enough, I have to go now’. But he wanted to be part of this incredible club.”
The Liverpool FC Manager ended by saying that, “He didn’t get any special treatment, stuff like this he just took it like it was and that made him a Liverpool legend. He will be remembered here forever. We wish him just the best for the rest of his career.”
