There is something quietly poignant about the image of Lois Openda working in the Portuguese sunshine — Cristiano Ronaldo shirt on his back, personal trainer Julerson Dias putting him through his paces on the Algarve coast near Faro. A €44 million footballer who has lost an entire season, missed the World Cup with Belgium, and now needs to find a new club before the summer is out. At 26, it is too soon for the story to be over. But the chapter at Juventus has closed — and it barely had time to open.
Officially Bianconero, Realistically Gone
Openda became officially a Juventus player just a few weeks ago, when the club’s final league position triggered the obligation to make his loan from RB Leipzig permanent. It was, as Tuttosport bluntly notes, a bureaucratic formality in a deal that should never have been concluded in the first place — a hurried, last-gasp signing made in the summer of 2025 after Randal Kolo Muani’s move to Turin collapsed, and the then director general Damien Comolli reached desperately for a Plan B that was never fit for purpose.
His record in black and white tells the story without embellishment: 34 appearances, approximately 997 minutes on the pitch, two goals, and a general inconsistency that became increasingly acute as the season progressed. He was, Spalletti concluded very quickly, a fundamental tactical misfit — not a true centre-forward, not a second striker, not a wide player, not a trequartista. Not a player built for Italian football. The manager came to that conclusion early and held it firmly to the end.
The Market Is Lukewarm — for Now
Openda’s agents are working to find him a destination. The early signals from the market, however, are cautious rather than enthusiastic. In France, Lyon, Rennes, and Lens have made contact — but none have yet tabled a formal offer. In England, newly promoted Coventry have asked questions, and Leeds United have gathered information. These are, to put it plainly, not the destinations a player who cost €44 million and who was once one of the Bundesliga’s most electric forwards had in mind.
The absence of serious, concrete bids reflects both the uncertainty around his form and the salary consideration any buying club would need to absorb. Lyon remain the most plausible French option given their resources and ambition; a return to the Bundesliga cannot be ruled out either.
Pre-Season: Openda’s Last Chance to Make His Case
For now, Openda has pledged to arrive at the Continassa on 13 July in impeccable physical condition — which is why Julerson Dias, a Portuguese individual fitness coach whose clients have included Nuno Mendes and João Cancelo, is working with him daily in Faro. The pre-season and summer friendlies, which will take place largely without the players currently at the World Cup, represent his one final opportunity to change Spalletti’s mind — or at the very least to demonstrate to potential suitors that the quality is still there.
Changing Spalletti’s thinking looks extremely unlikely. But at the age of 26, with the physical gifts that made him one of Europe’s most feared strikers at Leipzig, Openda is not a finished article. A move to the right club, in the right league, with a manager who understands how to use him, could yet unlock a career that has been temporarily and comprehensively stalled in Turin. The summer is young. The offers will come. But Comolli’s most embarrassing legacy will need to be resolved — one way or another — before Carnevali’s rebuild can truly begin.
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