Wolfsburg have entered talks with Liverpool over a permanent transfer of striker Divock Origi.

Origi, 22, joined Wolfsburg on loan from Liverpool at the beginning of the season.

While the initial deal includes no clause to make the move permanent, the Bundesliga side have since said they hope to land the attacker next summer.

The Belgium international's contract at Liverpool is set to expire in 2019, and thus 2018 would represent the last chance for the Reds to cash in on him.

Wolfsburg have now made a first move for the attacker, who has scored four goals in 15 Bundesliga outings so far.

"The people at Liverpool are merchants, no Samaritans," Wolfsburg sporting director Olaf Rebbe said in kicker after the opening round of talks with the Premier League club's sporting director Michael Edwards.

"We will still try to exhaust our possibilities, alongside the player who feels well here."

In the second half of the Bundesliga season, Origi is tipped to take a more central role in Wolfsburg's attack following Mario Gomez's return to his old club Stuttgart.

Seventeen games into the 34-match season, Wolfsburg rank 12th and trail the European qualification spots by nine points while holding a four-point lead on the first clubs in the relegation zone.