Lois Openda is speaking — and his L’Équipe interview, published on the morning of Juventus’s 5-0 Europa League victory over NEC, delivers the most candid insider account yet of what went wrong during his single season in black and white. The Belgian striker, on loan at Lyon from Juventus and scoring freely under Paulo Fonseca, uses the distance of several months and the confidence of rediscovered form to address questions that his abbreviated Juventus career never had the chance to answer on the pitch.
“It Was Comolli Who Explained How He Wanted to Use Me”
The origin story of the transfer is told with refreshing frankness. “In the summer of 2025, during the pre-season break, I spoke with Damien Comolli. He explained how he wanted to use me in a demanding championship.” It is a detail that lands with a particular irony in September 2026 — Comolli has since departed, the administration has been entirely overhauled, and the project that recruited Openda bears no resemblance to the one he is now operating within.
His tactical intelligence going into the move was also evident: “In Italy, the team that plays very well with space in behind the defensive line is Inter — and Roma is beginning to understand it too.” By implication, Juventus was neither of those things.
“Tudor Wanted Me — but Vlahović Would Keep the Ball to Himself”
The passage that generated the most immediate reaction pinpoints the specific tactical dysfunction that made Openda’s profile unworkable in Turin. “The manager wanted me. But in my position, Vlahović and Jonathan David were already playing. I felt I could complement David — a very strong, technically gifted, and generous player. I could have run in behind the defensive line and asked him for the ball.”
The problem was Vlahović: “The team was not accustomed to playing with a striker who attacks the depth — and Vlahović would keep the ball for himself.” It is, from a player who played alongside him for part of the same season, the most direct and specific description yet of what made Vlahović so difficult to partner in a system that required collective fluidity.
“Going to Juventus Was Not a Mistake”
To his credit, Openda refuses to characterise the experience as a professional failure — framing it instead as a necessary developmental chapter. “I did not make a mistake. It helped me to work on certain aspects I had not even considered — like playing in different positions, or not playing even when you know you are ready.” The honest acknowledgement of the latter — “not playing when you know you are ready” — captures the particular difficulty of being a runner-profile striker at a club that had no system capable of using your primary quality.
His parting observation is the most precise of all: “In different circumstances, it would have gone better.” It is the verdict of a player who accepts his own part in the story whilst recognising clearly that the context around him made success almost impossible from the very first day.
