Liverpool have officially announced the capture of striker Divock Origi from Lille for a fee reported to be in the region of £10 million.
However, the Reds have confirmed that the youngster will be sent back to Lillie on a season-long loan, to ensure he gets more regular first team football.
"Liverpool Football Club have confirmed the signing of Divock Origi from Lille. The 19-year-old will immediately be loaned back to the French club for the duration of the 2014-15 season," read a statement in the club's official website.
Although many clubs, including Arsenal, Tottenham and Atletico Madrid were interesting in signing the 19-year-old, who was impressive as Belgium reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup, Origi chose to join the Reds, who according to him, is "one of the greatest clubs in the world."
"I am very, very happy and delighted a club as big as Liverpool showed interest in me. I'm very excited," Origi told the club's website.
"I know it's a club with a great history, great fans and a lot of great players. For me, Liverpool is one of the greatest clubs in the world and I'm very excited to be part of this great history."
The Belgian, who insists that he will be giving his hundred percent at Anfield, says he is hoping to achieve "great things" with the Merseyside club.
"I am very proud to sign for the club. I'll give everything for the club, like I did when I was small and did for Lille. I'm hoping we can achieve great things together."
Origi has become Liverpool's sixth signing this summer after Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren (all Southampton), Emre Can (Bayer Leverkusen) and Lazar Markovic (Benfica), as Brendan Rodgers continues to strengthen the squad following the departure of Luis Suarez.
Although the youngster will not be playing in Liverpool next season, the Northern Irishman feels that Origi will turn out to be a world-class player in the future.
"We're absolutely delighted to sign him because I genuinely think he has the potential to go on and be a world-class young player," Rodgers said.
"It's a great signing for the football club. He's someone that could have really helped us this season; he's 19 years of age, 6ft2, he can score goals and is strong.
"But we knew part of the deal was that he is going back to Lille on loan. But the overriding feeling is that we're absolutely delighted to have a young player who potentially could be a star over the coming years."
