Mignolet: Origi has a huge future ahead
Simon Mignolet discovered at the World Cup in June what the staff at Liverpool had been considering for many years previously – that Divock Origi is blessed with significant talent.
The Reds completed their capture of the 19-year-old striker last month, sealing a deal with Lille that involved the Belgian international returning to the French club on loan for the duration of 2014-15.
His transfer followed an extensive period of scouting by manager Brendan Rodgers and his recruitment team that was underway from Origi's days of representing his country at youth level.
In contrast, the world was alerted to the youngster's abilities when he impressed for Belgium at the World Cup this summer, notably scoring a group-stage winner against Russia at the Maracana.
Watching on and learning more about the Ostend native each day was Mignolet, who is now predicting a particularly bright future for his compatriot after assessing his skills in Brazil.
"He is a very exciting player and a huge prospect, and he will have one more year with Lille," the goalkeeper enthused to Liverpoolfc.com when asked for his verdict.
"I'm sure that after that he'll play very well for Liverpool. He's got a huge future ahead of him. I wish him all the best this season and hopefully we'll see him soon.
"When we arrived with the Belgium squad, nobody had really heard about him to be honest. He played at Lille but had never been called up for the full squad, just the U21s.
"Because Christian Benteke was unfortunately injured, we needed a striker - he came in and from the first day in training he showed his ability. In the games, he showed what he was all about."