It is confirmed. Lois Openda has left Juventus for Lyon, with both clubs having officially announced the transfer of the Belgian forward, who returns to Ligue 1 — the league where he first made his name with Lens — after a single deeply disappointing season in Turin.
The formula, as previously agreed: a paid loan at a fee of €3 million, with Lyon covering Openda’s wages in full — approximately €7.4 million gross per year. There is no purchase option included, meaning Juventus retain the player on their books at his current book value until any future renegotiation.
The departure clears one of the most expensive and unproductive files from the Carnevali era’s inherited in-tray. Over €45 million invested. Two goals in 34 appearances. A tactical misfit that Spalletti identified immediately and never tried to work around. The chapter is closed — and the wage bill is meaningfully lighter as the club pushes to finalise Kolo Muani.
The Story Breaking Alongside the Announcement
The sidebar on Calciomercato’s trending stories at the moment of publication carries several developments of immediate significance to Juventus supporters. John Stones has agreed a two-year deal with Inter Milan — removing one of the defensive options Carnevali had been monitoring from the available free-agent pool entirely. Nico González has made clear he does not wish to return to Juventus, preferring to remain at Atletico Madrid — resolving that long-running situation definitively. And Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have resigned from their roles with the Italian national team — adding another twist to the FIGC crisis that has been building all summer.
Each of those developments reshapes the landscape for the final weeks of Juventus’s window. Stones to Inter rules out one defensive solution. González’s decision to stay in Madrid removes an outgoing fee that Carnevali had been factoring into his calculations. And Italy’s deepening coaching crisis continues to swirl in the background — with Giorgio Chiellini’s name attached, uncomfortably, to the institutional chaos in Rome.
The Openda deal is done. The real work of this summer, however, is still very much in progress.
