Liverpool Transfer News: Latest on Divock Origi Contract, Loan Rumours
August 3, 2018
Fenerbahce officials have reportedly traveled to England to discuss a loan deal for Liverpool's Divock Origi, who could be offered a new contract by the Reds to facilitate such a move.
According to the Mirror and AMK (h/t Turkish Football's Emre Sarigul), Liverpool were looking for £26 million for the Belgian, but no club is willing to pay such a fee. Fenerbahce won't pay more than £1.8 million for the one-year loan.
Earlier this week, Fotospor (h/t Nihat Emre Kocaaslan of Sport Witness) reported both Besiktas and Fenerbahce were interested in the 23-year-old, and the former were open to a permanent deal.
Per James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo, the latest loan rumours are not true:
Origi signed for Liverpool in 2014 but has spent much of his time out on loan at former club Lille and with Wolfsburg in the previous campaign.
His Premier League career has been a disappointment, and according to Liverpool blogger Joel Rabinowitz, he has shown no signs of improvement during this year's pre-season:
He's still just 23 years old, however, explaining why Liverpool are hopeful he can still fetch a decent transfer fee. The problem is his most recent outings have been some of his worst, and his contract will run out next summer.
That makes a standard loan deal highly unlikely. Even with his value at a low, Origi is still worth more than the £1.8 million Fenerbahce are supposedly offering.
A permanent transfer seems the most likely outcome at this point, as the Reds no longer seem to have any use for the speedster. Offering him a new deal would not be productive.