Who is Lois Openda? The exciting Belgian striker tearing it up at Lens
Lois Openda has been attracting interest from Arsenal and Aston Villa. FootballTransfers look at what he'd bring to the Premier League.
Lois Openda has been at the very heart of Len’s superb run in Ligue 1 this season, and his performances are apparently drawing admiring glances from some of Europe’s top clubs.
The 23-year-old striker has been in top form, registering 19 goals and three assists at the time of writing. It’s been a breakout year for a player who is still in his inaugural campaign for Franck Haise’s side.
There have been reports that Arsenal are keen on bringing in the Belgian attacker to the Emirates, though this idea has less credence when you consider that they still have Folarin Balogun coming back from his loan at Reims.
How much is Lois Openda worth?
Openda’s current club meanwhile is set for Champions League football and he is their star name right now.
Contracted until 2027, our xTV model (Expected Transfer Value) says Openda is worth €29m, while his xTV range is between €21.8m and €36.3m.
That sort of level sounds about right for Lens - Cheick Doucoure’s move to Crystal Palace is currently the club’s record departure. He left for €22.60m last summer.
Openda really caught the attention of football fans during his dominant performance against Paris Saint-Germain at the beginning of the year, scoring a goal and providing an assist as Lens ran out 3-1 winners.
The player, bought from Club Brugge last summer, also netted a hat-trick against Toulouse in October, in what was a superb period for the 23-year-old - so much so that he was called up to the Belgian national team for the World Cup.
Openda had actually struggled to get into the side at Club Brugge beforehand - the Belgian Pro League outfit opted to send the player out on loan for the past two seasons.
He was sent away to Dutch side Vitesse, and there he flourished in scoring 29 goals during a spell in the Eredivisie.
Club Brugge were eventually happy to accept €10m from Lens for Openda’s services. He had scored just five goals in 53 games for the Belgium club, but his trajectory since then has been phenomenal.
After a dry spell from January onwards, Openda got back to scoring ways with a bang in March: he scored a five-minute first-half hat-trick in what was a 4-0 victory at Clermont, each goal scored with his left boot.
After the Ligue 1 contest, coach Haise said: “There have always been strikers who don't score for a while. Lois is a striker who knows how to score. He has it in him. It's good that it happened this afternoon."
Despite the somewhat capricious year for Openda, there are indeed suitors reportedly lining up to sign him. Arsenal have been mentioned and even Aston Villa too.
But, as ever, the player was quick to disregard the rumours linking him with a switch to the Premier League, claiming to be ‘very happy’ with his term at the Estadio Bollaert-Delelis.
“I know there’s a lot of noise but I’m staying calm,” he told L’Equipe. “I haven’t done all of this work just to get distracted. I like it, it’s a form of recognition.
“But I shouldn’t listen to what’s being said. I’ve kept my Player of the Month award for March in a cabinet. I’m under contract with Lens until 2027. I’m very happy here. I hope to write a page in the club’s history book and leave my mark.“
What are Openda’s strengths?
So what would a prospective buyer be getting if they did prise Openda away from Lens?
It’s no secret that his biggest strength is his finishing. Of his 19 goals this season, he has scored five with his right foot, eight with his left and six with his head, making him one of the most well-rounded predators out there.
He has scored 0.74 goals per-90 minutes - and like most elite finishers, he is outperforming his xG of 0.60 per-90.
But what stands out is that penalties skew none of these numbers. Unlike the other top scorers in Ligue 1, Openda hasn’t taken a single penalty this season.
When comparing Openda’s performance to other strikers in Ligue 1, we see that he is a great dribbler who does particularly well at carrying the ball and dribbling into the box.
He also shows great competence with his late and cut-back crosses. He has an xA of 0.12 per-900 which is decent for a CF but not outstanding.
The striker certainly seems to have the skillset to operate out wide, having played some minutes on the left wing during his time at Vitesse last season.
Openda also contributes defensively and is above average at pressing and is the second best-performing striker in Ligue 1 at recoveries.
The only real weakness is his passing, which will need to be better if he is to move to a better team - something that appears more and more likely.
The question is who will it be...