Divock Origi vs Mario Balotelli Comparison

Brendan Rodgers raised a few eyebrows over the summer when Liverpool signed Belgium striker Divock Origi from French team Lille for around £10 million and then quickly loaned him back to France for the 2014-15 season.  Origi, a rising teenage star, impressed at the 2014 World Cup for his Belgium national team.  The Belgian youngster normally came off of the bench during the tournament; however, the substitute always seemed to provide a spark to his team once coming onto the pitch.

In his second cameo appearance of the tournament, Origi scored what would become the winning goal during a group stage match against Russia.  The goal made Origi the youngest player (at 19 years, two months, and four days) to ever score in a World Cup match for Belgium.

Following the purchase and loan of Origi, Liverpool spent £16 million on the highly-rated, yet complex, Mario Balotelli to fill the void that superstar Luis Suarez left when he joined Barcelona in July.  Initially the £16 million fee was seen as “good business” by Rodgers; however, the Italian international has not had the best of starts to his career on Merseyside.

The 24-year-old Balotelli has managed to score only one goal in all competitions for Liverpool so far this season, and his swapping of jerseys with Real Madrid’s Pepe during halftime of Wednesday’s Champions League match (a match where Liverpool were down 3-0 at the break) infuriated Reds fans around the world.  Balotelli was subsequently subbed at halftime for Adam Lallana.

Although Balotelli’s form is certainly not the sole reason for Liverpool’s recent lackluster play (I would argue that Rodgers is partially to blame for a few questionable purchases in the over $330 million he has spent since arriving to Liverpool), there is no denying that Origi has outplayed Balotelli to this point of the season.

While the Belgian definitely has an advantage over Balotelli by playing in the less physical Ligue 1 (and it is still early on in the season, Balo could certainly break out at any time), Origi does have the skillset and frame to potentially play well in England’s Premier League.  Though he is only 19-years-old, Origi possesses creativity, pace, and a solid finishing ability around the box.

Liverpool will surely be excited that Origi is playing well in France (he also gave rivals Everton fits in Thursday night’s Europa League match); however, is Rodgers and the rest of the team’s brass kicking themselves for not giving the youngster a chance in England this season?  Not only would they have a solid player in Origi, but they could have also potentially used the $25 million that they spent on Balotelli to purchase other holes in the team.