Loïs Openda Reflects on Juventus Experience

Loïs Openda doesn’t regret Juventus. Not publicly, not privately, not even after a season that left his numbers looking brutally thin.

One goal in 34 appearances for a club that signed him from RB Leipzig to add pace and depth in behind. On paper, that reads like a move gone badly wrong. Openda doesn’t see it that way.

Speaking to L’Equipe, the Belgium international unpacked a year in Turin that never quite clicked, tactically or emotionally, before his current loan at Lyon.

A runner in a team that wouldn’t run with him

Openda arrived at Juventus in 2025 with a clear idea of how he would be used. He had spoken with Damien Comolli, then at the club, who laid out a plan for him in what Openda calls “a difficult league.”

He knew Serie A would be tight, tactical, cagey. He also knew his strength: attacking space, sprinting in behind defensive lines, stretching teams that dare to push up.

There was just one problem. Juventus didn’t really play that way.

“In Italy, the team that really exploits depth is Inter. Roma are only just starting to understand it,” he said, underlining the structural issue he ran into from the start.

The coach wanted him. The system didn’t.

David, Vlahovic and a clash of profiles

Competition for places was always going to be fierce. Openda found himself stacked up against Dusan Vlahovic and Jonathan David, both operating in his zone.

“The coach wanted me, but Vlahovic and David were already playing in my position,” he explained.

With David, there was at least a natural connection. Their profiles meshed, their movements complemented one another.

“I had good chemistry with David,” Openda admitted.

The dynamic with Vlahovic was different. The Serbian is a penalty-box forward who likes to receive to feet, protect the ball, and dictate the tempo of an attack himself.

“The team wasn’t used to playing with a player who runs in behind, and Vlahovic tended to keep the ball to himself.”

In a side not drilled to release early passes into space, a striker who lives off those runs is always going to look isolated. Openda’s main weapon was blunted by habits around him that were already well established.

A season of frustration, not failure

The 2025-26 campaign saw Openda work under Igor Tudor and Luciano Spalletti, two coaches with strong ideas and demanding structures. Neither quite unlocked him.

He kept pushing, kept waiting.

“I tried to get my chance, and sometimes I did, but towards the end of the season, I realised that to play, I had to leave,” he said.

That realisation didn’t come with bitterness. Just clarity. The numbers are stark — one goal in 34 games across all competitions — but Openda refuses to label the move a misstep.

“It wasn’t a mistake, and it allowed me to work on aspects I hadn’t considered,” he insisted. “I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I’m sure that in other circumstances, it would have gone better.”

That line matters. He isn’t distancing himself from the decision. He’s defending it. The experience, for him, still carried value: adapting to a slower league, learning to operate in tighter spaces, coping with limited minutes at a club where patience is scarce.

A new chapter in Lyon, without guarantees

Now 26 and on loan at Lyon, Openda is trying to relaunch his momentum in a more open, transitional environment. Two goals in eight appearances so far hint at a player still searching for rhythm, but at least operating in a league that suits his instincts more naturally.

Lyon paid €3.5m for the loan for 2026-27. There is no option to buy. No safety net, no pre-agreed future. Just a season to convince — Juventus, Lyon, and perhaps a wider market — that the forward who terrorised defences at Lens and Leipzig is still very much there.

He left Turin convinced he needed to move to play. The next few months in France will tell whether that conviction leads him back to the level his talent once promised, or into yet another reset in a career that refuses to stand still.