When Liverpool signed Divock Origi in 2014, we immediately loaned him back to his parent club Lille for the 2014/15 campaign.
But before sending him away, Brendan Rodgers confidently claimed that the young Belgian would develop into a world-class striker, simply because: ‘he has everything’.
Origi is still only 21-years-old, but has taken the chance presented by Coutinho’s injury superbly – scoring three goals in three games since his introduction at the end of November.
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For the season, Origi’s on five goals, all the more impressive considering he’s only started five games in total.
“There are very few players who can replace Suarez,” Rodgers told The Daily Mail at the time.
“Actually there are no players who can replace Suarez.
“When you look at the availability of other players during the summer, it was something that was difficult for us.
“It’s no good now I know but we took a player in Divock Origi who we believe will be world class and we’ll get him in the summer.
“Now he is a top player. He has everything: the speed, the profile and so on and he (could) play (for Liverpool) now.”
To be fair, Rodgers made similar comments about Thiago Ilori and Lazar Markovic, but he might well have nailed it with Origi – although it’s taken the introduction of Jurgen Klopp to help the attacker improve.
The forward is not world-class yet, but he’s undeniably developing at the kind of rate which could see him eventually considered in that bracket.
His goals against Sunderland and Bournemouth both displayed skill, trickery and finishing ability – the kind of which we actually miss without a recognised striker starting in the front-three…
We hope the young forward continues being selected, with West Ham at home next weekend.