Jurgen Klopp has named one former Liverpool hero who was ‘the perfect player’ for his squad because of his attitude.
Divock Origi wrote his name into Anfield legend with a series of iconic late goals, most notably the finish to cap an epic comeback over Barcelona which saw us reach the Champions League final in 2019, and the strike to clinch the trophy in the decider against Tottenham a few weeks later.
The Belgian generally had to play backup to the famed front three of Mo Salah, Bobby Firmino and Sadio Mane, but Klopp praised the 28-year-old for the mature manner in which he accepted being a sporadic starter so long as he could make an impact for the team.
As per Liverpool Echo, the Reds manager said: “This should not be a big story but Divock Origi was the perfect player for us because Divock accepted that he was not a big starter. When he came on his influence was always massive.
“If he had always been angry, he couldn’t have been here as long as he was: ‘I score two goals, but you don’t bring me on in the next game’. It was not that I had to explain to Divock, ‘By the way, Bobby starts again next week.’ He was fine with it, but he knew his importance.”
Players like Origi must be a dream for a manager to have, with Klopp’s comments suggesting that the Belgian was conciliatory about where he stood within the Liverpool squad and sought to do his talking with his performances than blabbing to the media about rarely starting.
The 28-year-old had six seasons at Anfield (excluding loan spells) and made just 34 Premier League starts, the equivalent of just under a full campaign (WhoScored), frequently having to rely on making an impact off the bench.
Far from moaning about being unable to establish himself in the team, though, he focused on delivering when given his opportunity, with moments such as his stoppage time Mersey derby winner and, of course, that goal against Barcelona cementing his status as a Kop icon for years to come.
If Origi had thrown a strop about not being able to displace Firmino as Liverpool’s first-choice centre-forward, he’d likely have been sent packing by Klopp long before the 2018/19 season in which he so often came up clutch for the Reds.
We can be forever grateful that the Belgian was mature and professional enough to accept his backup role while realising that he was still very much valued by his manager and counted upon to come good whenever his chance came.