Football
Mike Whalley 10y

Divock Origi eyes future success with 'great' Liverpool team

Divock Origi insists he made the right decision to join Liverpool ahead of Tottenham -- but says he will have to be patient if he wants to be an Anfield success.

- Transfer Assessment: Liverpool
- Origi eyes fruitful Lille loan

The Belgium forward was one of nine summer signings made by manager Brendan Rodgers, arriving from Lille on July 29 for an initial fee of six million pounds.

But he is the only one who will have to wait until 2015 for his Reds debut, having been loaned back to the French club for the season.

Origi, who is with the Belgium squad for Thursday's friendly against Australia in Liege, has scored one goal -- a penalty -- in Lille's opening three league games of the season.

And he feels the arrangement will benefit him in the long-term, despite the fact that he took his time before agreeing to sign for the Reds.

The 19-year-old and his father Mike, a former Kenya international who played in Belgium for Genk, travelled to Merseyside for talks in early July after Liverpool agreed a fee with the Ligue 1 club.

But Origi then told Belgian media that he wanted time to consider his future before committing himself, although he did eventually sign a five-year contract.

Reflecting on that decision ahead of Belgium's match, Origi told Sky Sports: "Of course there was a lot of interest, which is normal. It was on me to stay calm and make the right decision. In the end I chose Liverpool and I have never regretted it.

"I think they welcomed me very well. This showed me a little bit about the history of the club and their philosophy so it was very interesting. At the end, I think it was the right choice."

Origi, though, is aware that there will be intense competition for places in attack when he returns to Merseyside next season.

Rodgers spent 16 million pounds to buy Mario Balotelli from AC Milan and four million pounds on Rickie Lambert from Southampton during the summer, to add to the attacking threat already provided by Daniel Sturridge.

Origi said: "Always with big teams there is competition, but it's also nice to have big players there so you can learn from them and grow and so you can play when the time is right.

"I will go there with a lot of patience and I know I'm going to learn a lot of things with the great players that are there."

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