LIVERPOOL -- Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Liverpool are in talks to cut short Divock Origi's season-long loan spell at Lille and bring him to Anfield before the end of January.
Belgium international Origi, 19, was signed from the French Ligue 1 club last July in a deal worth 10 million pounds, then loaned back to them for the season.
Liverpool have been in need of a prolific forward having sold last season's 31-goal top scorer Luis Suarez to Barcelona before losing Daniel Sturridge to a succession of injuries.
Sturridge, who scored 21 times in the Premier League last term, has not played for the Reds since August, and fellow strikers Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini have not managed to make up those goals.
Reports have been circulating for more than two months that Liverpool are considering paying a compensation fee of around three million pounds to Lille to terminate Origi's loan deal early.
Rodgers said in November that there was no chance of such a move, but now admits it is possible.
"Divock will definitely be here next summer," he said. "Whether he'll be here or not in January... it's something there has been discussion about. But there's nothing to report on it.
"The agreement was for him to stay with Lille. We'll see how that works. But if not, we've got the players here who are developing and working well, and we'll go with what we've got."
Paying to sign Origi early would represent something of a risk as he has not scored in his last 14 games for Lille, a run stretching back to Oct. 2.
In addition, he would not be eligible to play for Liverpool in the Europa League this season, having already appeared in the competition this season for Lille.
UEFA Europa League regulation 18.19 states that a club cannot register a player for the competition in mid-season if they have already played in it for another team -- even if that team have been knocked out, as Lille were in the group stages.
Regardless of whether Origi makes an early move to Anfield, Rodgers believes he now has the attacking threat to score more frequently over the second half of the season.
Liverpool scored 101 Premier League goals in 38 matches last season, but have managed just 29 in 21 games this term.
But Rodgers has found greater defensive solidity and a more potent threat up front by switching to a 3-4-2-1 formation in recent weeks, with winger Raheem Sterling generally operating as a lone striker.
Fabio Borini has filled in while Sterling has been given a mid-season break in Jamaica, from which the 20-year-old has returned for Saturday's trip to Aston Villa.
Rodgers said: "We set up to be defensively strong but other than scoring goals, you look at the chances you've created.
"That was a problem for us in the early part of the season. We didn't look like scoring, and the creativity wasn't quite there either. But over the last six or seven weeks, that's improved quite a lot.
"We've got those players technically on the field who can create those chances or us, and we've found a way of working that allows us to create -- but just as importantly, allows us to defend.
"We're very compact, but with a greater intensity to our game. That's really helped us a lot. We won't be scoring the numbers we scored last year. That's for sure. It's obvious to see why that is.
"But as the season is going on, we're certainly creating those chances, and more times than not, we hope we'll take them."