Saints have been linked with Liverpool forward Divock Origi, but is he really the type of player that fits the usual profile that is seen by the club to suit the Southampton Way, I would say possibly not.

On pure stats alone Divok Origi looks a potentially good signing, the striker who has been a Liverpool player since the summer of 2014 when he arrived at Anfield aged 19 after breaking into the Lille side has a reasonable strike rate given the role he has played at Liverpool which has been mainly off the bench, starting just 34 times in the Premier League plus another 66 as sub and scoring 20 goals.

This tells you he is an impact player, his goals per game ratio at exactly 1 in 5 is not great, but in those 100 games he has only amassed 3,379 minutes on the pitch, that's a goal every 169 minutes, that may not sound great but a Premier League season is only 3,420 minutes, condense those stats and he could potentially be a 15-20 goal a season striker and the fact that he also has 9 assists shows he is not just a goal scorer.

So first glance suggests he has something but he has never quite made the breakthrough to the highest level, a loan to Wolfsburg in 2017/18 could have been a season in which he showed he has what it takes, but 22 starts & 11 off the bench with a haul of only 6 goals again tells a story.

Now at 26 years old he is at a crossroads of his career and the fact that he has stayed at Anfield so long as a bit part player perhaps shows you that he has grown too comfortable in that position, is he happy to take a good wage and be a fringe player in a successful team than to be a starter and try and become the player that undoubtedly he has the talent to be.

Now with a year left on his contract it seems Liverpool are keen to see if they can get a fee for the player or at least get him out on loan.

For Saints the issue will be wages, he is on £60k a week at Liverpool and his track record doesn't warrant paying that sort of money for a striker who is an impact player off the bench.

But more importantly it is whether he has the hunger to truly be a top top player, or is he another Mario Lemina, someone who has all the talent but isn't prepared to put in the effort and sacrifice to turn potential into the real thing.

When Lemina arrived at St Mary's we thought we had found a rare talent, truth is we had, he rarely showed it and preferred to enjoy the trappings of success off the pitch than put the effort in on it.

There is no suggestion that Origi is of that ilk, but for Saints it is whether he has the hunger , on loan he might be an attraction for the club, but we would risk losing him on a permanent deal if he excelled.

If we sign him on a permanent transfer we risk being saddled with a damp squib and paying big wages in our terms for someone who isn't contributing on a regular basis and God knows we have had enough of those in the past few years.

So I'm unsure of this deal, the problem is that we don't know what the path holds going forward, where will Danny Ings be ? or more importantly where will Harry Kane be, the transfer market is dead at the moment or at least on the surface appears to be, but it will start to turn when or if the big clubs make a move for Harry Kane.

Photo: Action Images

saintsfanbrock added 09:47 - Jul 21 I agree Origi is too expensive for our bench and not good enough to bet our season on as a starter, hopefully just an agent trying to manufacture something. FYI people often get the phrase wrong so I will forgive you, it’s damp squib not damp squid.
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SaintNick added 10:07 - Jul 21 Thanks for pointing that out, i did know that but in the excitement of signing a Liverpool player i let my imagination run away with me, i would imagine that all squids are damp
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highfield49 added 10:13 - Jul 21 Danny Ings must be at least a bit miffed seeing as Origi has collected winner medals for English League, Champions League, Club World Cup and UEFA Supercup during his time sat on the bench pocketing in the region of £60k a week. I can now more clearly see Danny's current point of view when rewards are gained for so little impact.
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