Mike Okoth: Origi will have to fight his way back up at Liverpool

IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Divock Origi will have to fight his way back into the Liverpool first eleven after his move away from Anfield failed to materialise, his father Mike Okoth says.

The former Kenya international striker told Nation Sport here on Saturday evening that all negotiations to move his 23-year-old son away from Anfield were complicated by the huge fee demanded by the “Reds.”

Okoth spoke moments after arriving back to his Belgian base from the negotiations at Anfield but is confident Origi will scale up coach Jurgen Klopp’s pecking order.

He noted there was serious interest shown by Spanish side Valencia and Germany’s Borussia Dortmund but they both couldn’t match Liverpool’s ask, said to be around 27 million pounds.

“Divock is still a Liverpool player, and is still on contract until the end of the 2019-2020 season,” Okoth, who turned out for Shabana and Kenya Breweries FC (now Tusker FC) in the late 1980s and early 1990s before moving to Oman’s Boshar FC as a professional and, eventually, to Belgium.

“The coach (Klopp) is already happy with what he’s seeing with Divock in training and it’s up to the young man to now fight for a place in the team.”

SERIOUS BIDS

Okoth confirmed there were serious bids for the Belgian international striker, who was on a season-long loan at Bundesliga side Wolfburg.

“Dortmund and Valencia showed good interest but they couldn’t match what Liverpool wanted and there was no way Divock was going out on loan again so he will have to fight for his place,” Okoth, 50, said.

“In football, you shouldn’t live in past glory but always fight to be the best and to be relevant on the day,” added Okoth, one of the most disciplined players to have rolled out of the Kenyan football production line.

In his Belgian professional career, Okoth played for Oostende, Harelbeke, Genk, Molenbeek, Heusden-Zolder and Tongeren before calling time to a brilliant career that also saw him wear national colours no less than 120 times for Harambee Stars.

He believes the loan spell at Wolfburg held Origi in good stead with the Belgian striker having scored six goals in his 31 appearances for the “Wolves” from Lower Saxony.

“He has seen the difference between Liverpool and other clubs and will obviously know that he has to fight hard to remain in Liverpool which is a bigger club,” Okoth noted saying he will assess the player’s performance over the next three months before deciding whether or not to make a move in the winter transfer window.

“Three months in football is a long time and Divock is already doing well in training and the coach is happy. Let’s wait and see what will happen between now and the winter window.”

Origi hasn’t been in Klopp’s sides for the first four matches of the new season, including Saturday’s 2-1 win at Leicester which took the “Reds” up to the top on goal difference with Chelsea, the two clubs the only ones with an unblemished 100 per cent record in the start to the 2018-19 season.

Liverpool’s top new signings this season include Guinea midfielder Naby Keita, snapped up from Leipzig, Swiss international winger Xherdan Shaqiri, formerly at Stoke City, and Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker formerly with Italy’s AS Roma.