Divock Origi’s work in the gym has seen him go up a shirt size, his manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed!
Liverpool’s young Belgian arrived at the club last summer, but looked very raw and wasn’t physically capable of leading our line – either on his own or with a partner.
In recent weeks however, he’s showed a remarkable improvement. He was brilliant away at Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League, scoring our crucial away goal, and added two more off the bench at home to Stoke on Sunday.
Klopp states that Origi’s rise is largely due to hard work in training.
“You see what confidence can do, I think Divock said himself, that when he came here everything was difficult for him,” the German began (cited in the Echo).
“He is still a very young player. Coming here and everyone’s expectations are high because he’s a highly-rated striker.
“When I came here he wasn’t fit, and then he had one or two small things, so now the most important thing he must stay fit.
“The last injury he used (the time out) for a little bit of body strength, so now he has to wear another shirt!
“The first goal, set-piece, quick in mind, short corner and then what a cross and what a header. It is only possible with confidence.
“The second goal, he really wanted to shoot, it was not a cross or something. Even on the bench it was a surprise, but it’s a nice goal.”
In total, Origi has eight goals this term, not a bad record considering he’s been used as a backup throughout the campaign. Only Coutinho and Roberto Firmino have more and Origi will be keen to reach double figures before the summer.
Against Dortmund on Thursday, Origi is a certainty to start, and it’s a testament to his recent performances that a fully fit Daniel Sturridge is arguably now behind him in the pecking order – although most fans would like to see them paired together.
With Origi and Sturridge on the pitch at the same time, Liverpool have averaged a goal every 36.4 minutes this term – an eye opening statistic.