A rising Premier League star: Liverpool 21-year-old is young player of the year for 2016
By Emma Sanders
Football Insider chooses which young Liverpool player has been the best throughout 2016.
Divock Origi has been the brightest young player at Liverpool in the last 12 months, despite some tough competition from a bunch of rising stars including Emre Can.
The 21-year-old is considered a regular first team member and he has had a fantastic season so far, taking on the main centre-forward role for the Reds over the last month.
Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho’s injuries made way for Origi to come into the starting XI against Leeds and he has started each fixture since, scoring five in his last six games.
In total, Origi has scored seven goals in 18 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool this season but he was an important figure under Jurgen Klopp in the last six months of the 2015-16 campaign.
Klopp has spoken highly of Origi since his arrival and he showed a lot of faith in the striker in the run in to the Europa League and Capital One Cup finals.
The Belgian scored in both legs of the quarter-final victory against Borussia Dortmund and netted a week later in the 4-0 Merseyside victory at Anfield in April to round off a terrific season.
His goal tally finished 10 in 33 games throughout the 2015-16 campaign, despite missing two months through injury in December and January.
In 2016, he netted 9 Premier League goals in 25 appearances, including 8 starts.
All doubt has now been removed. Origi is a rising Premier League star.
In other Liverpool news, these were the three worst moments in 2016.