Liverpool journalist James Pearce has shared a fitness update on Reds attacker Divock Origi.
This comes after Pearce recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Liverpool-themed podcast The Red Agenda, where he spoke about the latest goings-on at the Merseyside club.
During the episode, Pearce revealed this latest fitness update on Origi, who was absent for Liverpool’s recent Community Shield defeat against Arsenal.
He said: “He’s injured. When I checked up on that last week, I was told both him and [Xherdan] Shaqiri have had fitness issues. I know Origi was deemed not fit enough as well by Belgium to be part of their squad this week.
“I think when players who have had speculation about their future are absent from friendlies, some obviously will jump to conclusions that he’s about to go out the door, but Liverpool are adamant at this stage that Origi’s absence from the friendlies so far has been down to fitness and not due to anything else.”
Liverpool signed the Belgian back in the 2014 summer transfer window from French club LOSC Lille for a fee of £11.37 million.
Since then, the 25-year-old has made a total of 140 appearances for the Reds, in which he has scored 34 goals and provided 12 assists during his time as a Liverpool player.
The 2019/20 season saw Origi make 28 Premier League appearances for the Merseyside club, scoring four goals and providing three assists for his Liverpool teammates during the campaign (per Transfermarkt).
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In a way, it’s probably good news for Liverpool that Origi missed the Community Shield due to injury instead of him potentially readying himself for an Anfield exit this summer after being linked with a move away earlier this year.
Hopefully, Origi and Shaqiri will be able to get back to full fitness before the start of the 2020/21 season so they can provide Reds manager Jurgen Klopp with two possible attacking options in his squad.