Divock Origi Withdrawn from Belgium Squad with Thigh Injury

There hasn’t been an international break in a couple of months now, which has meant Liverpool haven’t had a player injured while off with his national team for a couple of months now. Today, that streak ends, with news that Divock Origi has been withdrawn from the Belgium squad with a thigh injury.

Manager Marc Wilmots announced that the player had left camp today and won’t take part in next Tuesday’s friendly against Portugal at his press conference today. With a few days to go until that match, Belgium has taken the chance to call up Everton’s Kevin Mirallas in Origi’s place rather than leave a roster spot empty.

Origi will now return to Liverpool, where the medical staff will run further tests. Regardless of the results, with the team due back from Tenerife within the next few days it is expected Origi will remain in Liverpool for the remainder of the international break. With a little luck, he will be able to train with the first team next week.

After a slow start to the season, Origi has begun to establish himself as a key first team player in recent months. All told, he has scored five goals in 24 total appearances for Liverpool this season after arriving from Lille over the summer. He has three goals and 16 caps for Belgium, with many of those in the 2014 World Cup.

Meanwhile, though he was ruled fit enough to remain with Belgium for the time being, Christian Benteke is also a doubt for Tuesday’s friendly after the big striker picked up a knock to his knee in training yesterday.