For much of the second half of the 2025-26 season, the only real talking point surrounding Juventus forward Loïs Openda was simply how little he was playing. He had fallen completely out of favor with new manager Luciano Spalletti, and it was clear that Openda had no place in Juve’s present and future plans. That resulted in a question we’ve asked far too often over the last few years: What happens next with this latest unwanted player?
Looks like we’re about to find out.
According to reports out of
France and Italy on Thursday, Juventus are closing to finalizing a deal with Olympique Lyonnais to send Openda on a season-long loan spell with an option to buy. While we don’t know the full numbers of how much the deal would cost yet, as sources like L’Equipe outline, Juventus are expected to pay some sort of percentage of Openda’s €4 million net salary this coming season. Openda is very much open joining Lyon, according to L’Equipe, with the chance to play in the Champions League on the table for the French side if they are to get through the qualification phase next month.
Seeing Openda leaving on loan always looked to be the most likely option for Juventus considering just how poorly and then how little he played last season. Of course, it doesn’t help that Juve had an obligation to buy Openda from RB Leipzig that kicked in and forced their hand into keeping him — and to that we have to, again, thank now-former CEO Damien Comolli — despite all those struggles. So now they’re in this situation where other clubs will likely only interested in taking a one-year flyer on Openda and see if he can rebound from a 2025-26 season in which he scored just once in Serie A.
So now we can only hope that Openda actually does produce at Lyon and convince them that he is worth more than just a one-year option. If that doesn’t happen, though, Openda will become the latest player that enters the Forever On Loan group that has had far too many players included over the last handful of years.
