Brendan Rodgers says Liverpool are in talks with Lille about the prospect of Divock Origi coming to Anfield this month.
The Belgian striker signed for the Reds in the summer for a fee of £10million, with part of the agreement being that the highly rated 19-year-old would return to the Ligue 1 club for a season long loan.
Origi has only fired six goals in all competitions for Lille this season, and is on a run of 13 games without a goal.
‘There have been discussions,’ said Rodgers.
He’s a player that will definitely be here next summer. Whether he’ll be here or not in January is something that there has been discussion [about].
‘But there is nothing to report on it. The agreement with Lille was for him to stay there. So we’ll see how that works.
‘But, if not, we’ve got players here that are developing and working well, and we’ll go with what we’ve got.’
The prospect of Origi signing early has seen speculation mount over the future of Mario Balotelli, who is yet to score in the Premier League since arriving from AC Milan in the summer for £16million.
But Rodgers has ruled out the prospect of the 24-year-old returning to Italy this month, a day after former Manchester City and current Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini accused Balotelli of wasting his talent at Anfield.
‘Roberto knows him very well,’ Rodgers added. ‘He said that if you work with Mario that you should be paid double.
‘I would agree with that and will speak to the owners but, joking aside, Mario is a really good guy. He hasn’t scored the goals that he or we would have wanted, but we’re determined to help him find the solution here. He certainly won’t be going anywhere in January.’
