Lois Openda Reflects on Juventus Spell and Future at Lyon
Lois Openda has no regrets about his ill-fated spell at Juventus. He does, however, have a clear idea of why it never truly caught fire.
Speaking to L’Equipe about his lone season in Turin, the Belgium international defended his 2025 move from RB Leipzig, even as he dissected a year in which he scored just once in 34 appearances under Igor Tudor and Luciano Spalletti.
“I knew exactly what I was getting into,” he said. “It wasn’t a mistake, and it allowed me to work on aspects I hadn’t considered.”
Inter understood him. Juventus didn’t.
Openda’s game is built on depth, on runs in behind, on stretching defences that dare to hold a high line. In Serie A, he felt only one club truly played to that strength.
“In Italy, the team that really exploits depth is Inter,” he explained. “Roma are only just starting to understand it.”
Juventus, in his eyes, never fully adapted to that profile. He arrived into a squad already built around two established forwards in his zone: Dusan Vlahovic and Jonathan David.
“The coach wanted me, but Vlahovic and David were already playing in my position,” Openda said.
That meant minutes were scarce and, when they came, the patterns of play rarely suited him.
Chemistry with David, conflict of styles with Vlahovic
Inside the dressing room, dynamics were mixed. On one side, there was a partnership that made sense on paper and felt right on the pitch.
“I had good chemistry with David,” Openda admitted.
On the other, a clash of styles with the man leading the line.
“The team wasn’t used to playing with a player who runs in behind, and Vlahovic tended to keep the ball to himself.”
The picture he paints is not of a toxic environment, but of a tactical mismatch. A striker whose game is built on movement and space, dropped into a system that preferred to play to feet and revolve around a dominant No 9.
He pushed to change that. It never quite happened.
“I tried to get my chance, and sometimes I did,” he said. “But towards the end of the season, I realised that to play, I had to leave.”
A fresh start in Lyon
That realisation led him to Lyon, where he is now on loan for the 2026-27 season. The French club paid €3.5m for the temporary deal, with no option to buy, underlining Juventus’ desire to keep control of his future.
At 26, Openda has started to rebuild. Two goals in eight appearances hint at a player settling back into a league and a style more naturally aligned with his strengths.
He insists the Juventus chapter, difficult as it was, still holds value.
“It wasn’t a mistake,” he reiterated. “I’m sure that in other circumstances, it would have gone better.”
The question now is simple: will those “other circumstances” arrive in Turin one day, or has Italy already seen the last of the version of Openda who loves to run into the space nobody at Juventus ever truly played him into?
