The Belgian has had a largely successful career to this point with a Champions League, Premier League and Club World Cup medal in the eight years he has been contracted at Liverpool. The role of Origi has decreased in importance throughout his time at the club with many believing he is now sixth choice for a starting role in the team, yet he can deliver when Liverpool requires a moment of magic. Come the end of the season Origi’s contract will be up and it’s looking likely that he’ll leave the club and need to find a new team.
The perfect destination would be on the south coast of England in Brighton at the Seagulls. The team under the stewardship of Graham Potter with the inclusion of Origi could lead the club to qualifying for their first ever European campaign.
Brighton’s need for a Striker
Brighton are having an impressive season to this point and currently sit ninth in the Premier League with three league fixtures remaining. The team have been playing impressive football and have been quite solid at the back this season, a key reason why the club are as high in the league this season. The team have been praised for playing fast, vibrant and entertaining football under Potter in the last two seasons in which the club create clear-cut chances in fixtures regularly however these chances have been squandered by their players with only 34 goals in 35 matches. Brighton need a striker that can finish the extensive number of chances they regularly make; Origi is the prime candidate to fill this role.
Brighton attempt to create chances in a vast number of ways. The team are impressive on the ball and control possession well and look to work space in which to score. This ability to play a similar game to that of Manchester City in controlling possession is quite impressive however unlike Pep Guardiola’s side the majority of their shots are from outside the box which limits their ability to score goals as the likelihood of these chances being successful is low. The strikers at the club (Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard) do not penetrate the back line or position themselves in the box anywhere near enough to score the chances that are created by the midfielders and full-backs.
The Brighton strikers are an important element of creating chances for the team, the whole team is designed to create chances. However, Brighton could look to utilise a slightly different style of play which would overcome their woeful chance conversion rate by sacrificing one of the two strikers the team usually deploys with a more conventional striker.
Origi is the perfect player to play this role; he has all the attributes that the Brighton attack is lacking – a good record from scoring outside the box, the ability to press high up the pitch to force mistakes and create chances (a skill he honed during his time at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp) as well as the pace to run in behind the opposition backline. The Belgian forward has a natural talent for being able to hold the ball up and then bring others into the game, a quality that would be highly sought after by Brighton. Origi truly personifies pace, power and physicality. He’d be the ideal addition to Potter’s side.
Whilst he possesses numerous qualities that would strengthen Brighton’s game, the main reason that Origi would be signed by the Seagulls is simply his ability to put chances away. He’s a natural goal scorer. At Liverpool, he has scored many important goals against Barcelona, Everton and in the Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur. This ability to convert important chances on such a big stage displays his ability to thrive under pressure, a striker that Brighton need to grow the club.
Why Origi should join Brighton
Origi has been starved of minutes in the past few seasons at Liverpool with many underestimating the talent that the Belgian possesses due to his unenviable task of attempting to displace talents such as Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz from the starting eleven at Liverpool. The perception of Origi being an average player that is called upon when Liverpool are desperate for a goal could be transformed to a fairer more accurate view that he is a talented striker but below that of the elite striking options in world football.
At Brighton, Origi would get to demonstrate his importance to a club regularly in the league and not be subjected to cameo roles as a substitute or as a rotational option in the League Cup and FA Cup. Origi would get to display his talent consistently in the Premier League and at 27 years old he could become an integral part of a club’s journey towards and continuation of European football. The more consistent football would help Origi and his international career.
The Qatar World Cup looms in the background, kicking off in November 2022 with Belgium currently looking for an in-form striker for the tournament. Romelu Lukaku is finding opportunities difficult to come by at Chelsea currently and this could open up the position for another striker. Origi should look at this opportunity to reignite his career as the chance to impose himself as an important striker for the national side.
The Belgian has an important summer this year as the next club could help further his career from being a rotational player on a world-class team to an important cog of a good side helping to benefit his reputation as a club and international striker. Brighton and Hove Albion would be the perfect team to do this at and Brighton would benefit hugely from having a striker in their squad that could finish an opportunity.
