Divock Origi has announced his retirement from football, meaning that AC Milan were the last club he represented.
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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.
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.