Divock Origi has announced his retirement from football, meaning that AC Milan were the last club he represented.
After the Scudetto season in 2021-22, Milan felt that they needed someone who could alternate with Olivier Giroud up front given the Frenchman’s age. Paolo Maldini identified Origi as the target and secured him on a free transfer, putting a four-year deal on the table which the Belgian signed.
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His first season did not go to plan as Origi never really overcame physical issues, and he found the back of the net twice in 36 appearances, though only ten of these were from the first minute. Then he seemed to vanish off radar entirely, before finally terminating his deal in December.
Divock calls it a day
Origi hasn’t played a match since April 2024, but his formal retirement was announced yesterday in a letter to The Players’ Tribune.
“Thank you, God. Thank you, football. I came into this world with a ball at my feet. In football, I feel fulfilled, as if my journey had come to an end. Now I have a new purpose and other things I want to pursue, with the same passion with which I have dedicated all these years to football.
“First and foremost, I am working hard to cultivate my passion for fashion, understood as an art. I will also continue to develop my entrepreneurial side with DLF, a football agency I am creating with my partner and co-owner Marvin Willem Ofori.”
To the world, he will forever be the boy who scored for Liverpool in the iconic 2019 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona and then in the final against Tottenham. For Milan fans, the free agent that quickly became a ghost.
He earned €4m net per season and didn’t play. From then on, he didn’t even go to Milanello, in agreement with the club. He was spotted in Florence and Rome, with a personal trainer, then disappeared. Frankly, football has rarely seen a story like his.
There will inevitably be insulting comments towards him on here (I hope this thread is well moderated) and obviously it wasn’t a good contract for Milan.
But he signed a contract we offered him, he never had a full pre-season with us, we tried to force him out by leaving him out of the team and he never once publicly complained about the club or its fans despite years of unwarranted threats and anger.
Yes, he didn’t want to leave a contract he couldn’t get anywhere else and his family wanted to live in Italy… he did nothing wrong other than not being the player Maldini thought he was.
He had some amazing moments in his career. It’s a shame none of them were with us. But fair play and all the best to him and his family moving on.
I don’t really care much about that bloke, but a contract usually demands contribution from both sides, which was clearly not the case.
Where I come from, you usually get fired for refusing to work (aka fullfill your contract).
He never refused. Milan didn’t want him. It is obvious. He was loaned out to Nottingham Forest and later he was moved to Futuro to try and force his hand to leave. He didn’t. At which point did he refuse to fullfill his contract? It was actually Milan.
Really? Of course he trained and played for Futuro? Didn’t he?
Milan didn’t want Divock Origi to train or play in Futuro ever. It was just a tactic to show him he is unwanted and should leave. It is a development club, u23. Having him there would do bad for the team.
Anyway, it backfired.
He reported when he was asked to, but they didn’t want him there. If he had refused to fulfil the contact, Milan would have sued to get out of it.
One thing to note (and I don’t know details of Origi’s deal), many players when signing for clubs will have terms in that contract that prevent the club being able to force them into certain things like playing with youth/reserve teams without their consent.
Exactly, is just common sense that Milan would cancel the contract they didn’t want if they COULD. Evident they told him not to show up after some time.
We’ll never know the details of the contract.
Anyway, an awful lot of free money for nothing. Some would just find and agreement and try to move on with the career, life or whatever. Others would just accept their fate and take it.
Whatever his contractual obligations were, were obviously met otherwise he would have been fired.
If “playing matches” was a contractual obligation, then footballers would be getting fired all the time.
100% agreed
LOL, “fair play”.
I agree. Been saying it. Milan didn’t want him so what choice did he have? The guy signed for free, was on contract and simply stayed it out. Why did milan want him to leave when simply respecting his contract meant more money for him? If I was him, I would happily do the same while planning my next life move away from.football in business. Fairplay to him. Anyone gave a sh%t when ibra pushed abate out of milan and he is now at torino after 2 years? No one gives a sh$t at milan because, sadly, as a milan fan I say that its been sh1t club. I wasted close to 20 years of my l8fe watching hours and hours of this sh_t club, as it got worse and worse… from ancelotti, to leonardo, allegri, to this one and that one and the fact remained that milan has been sh#t. Look around, football and life goes on…. the management is sh”t. Look at allegri, he cannot even get his 5mill, while ibra try to sabotage his napoli move. Milan is a clown show.
In contractual perspective, he is right with the decision, as the contract binds both parties and he didn’t do anything wrong contractually and professionally.
As a human being, tho he made very disrespectful choices. He played football where the money he made was from the purchases made by fans, and obviously fans are subjectively want contribution on the field. He has the moral obligation to make thee fans happy.
He didn’t make the right decision by not taking himself out from the burden.
He got offer to play for another teams and didn’t take them out of greed because he didn’t want to make less than what he earned in Milan. That’s just not admirable. Football is the most loved sport because it inspired people.
Now, do you think his story is inspiring people?
One of the less costly failures of Milan transfers. He didn’t cost the club even 15M in total. Some cost double than that in transfers only and are equally sh*t.
One of maldini’s signing legacy, but he came injured which our medical missed at that time. Otherwise he could be starter or supersub. He had powerful shot and good header, could perfoem well under the right coach.
The medical team didn’t miss that he was injured since he was already injured and missed the last few weeks of his Liverpool career. Everyone knew at the time that he will be out for most of the pre season and might not be ready to start the season.
Happy retirement and Good luck to Divock Origi, a Milan legend.
Back when Maldini was given so little funds he had to ask for an injured player on a free signing…
Milan spent the most money of any club without sales when Maldini was the director. If he wasn’t losing every player for nothing he would have had more funds to spend. The people after him spend more money because they bring in money thru sales. The base budget is still the same.
To be fair the Sassuolo goal was worth his entire salary that season 😄
Facts tho
was a sublime strike
Legendary. The goat lol 😅
We don’t need to beat a dead horse here. But best of luck to the new phase of his life.
One of the worst signings ever, by any club, in any league.