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Aston Villa should steer clear of 'world-class' Divock Origi after transfer news emerges
Aston Villa have been linked with a move for ex-Liverpool forward Divock Origi – but the 27-year-old would be a clear downgrade on Unai Emery’s current options.
Italian publication Calciomercato shared (4 April) that Aston Villa, among several other Premier League suitors, were interested in enquiring about a summer transfer for the AC Milan forward.
Origi has fallen down the pecking order at the San Siro Stadium since leaving Liverpool last summer, with both Olivier Giroud and Zlatan Ibrahimovic preferred by manager Stefano Pioli.
The Belgian international’s downturn in form has been drastic this term, scoring just two goals from his 20 appearances in Serie A this season.
Despite Jurgen Klopp once labelling Origi as the best finisher at the Merseyside club and even dubbing him a “world-class” striker, Aston Villa should steer clear of signing him in the summer transfer window. [90min, 25 April, 2022]
According to WhoScored, Origi is a far inferior striker to both Ollie Watkins and Cameron Archer this season, with data from Jhon Duran too limited to assess, considering he has amassed just 65 minutes of Premier League action.
Out of the three forward, the AC Milan forward doesn’t come out on top in any major attacking facet.
His two goals and one is less than both Archer’s ten goal contributions and Watkins’ 15, while Origi has only managed an average of 1.1 shots on goal per game, which is far less than Watkins’ 2.2 efforts and the Villa loanee’s 1.6 per game.
Elsewhere, the Serie A player has only managed 0.5 key passes per appearance, less than both Villa forwards, and has an average rating of 6.35, which is well below Archer’s 7.11.
The Opta-powered stats from FBREF show that Origi is in the 38th percentile of strikers for non-penalty expected goals, while clearly struggling to link up with his teammates, sitting in the bottom fifth of passes completed for forward’s in the top-five European leagues over the last year.
Both Archer and Watkins are clearly superior strikers to Origi, and Villa must avoid getting embroiled in a bidding war with the other Premier League suitors interested in his signature.
In other Aston Villa news, Dan Bardell believes a loanee could consider a Villa Park exit this summer if he isn’t given first-team assurances next season.