Leicester City has been on a poor run of games to start off the Premier League season. Their one point from six games has left them sitting in last place in the league. This has been due to a combination of a lot of issues, but the poor attacking play has been one of them.
The Legendary Jamie Vardy has struggled to start the season and Brendan Rodgers hasn’t had the faith to give Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka consistent minutes in the starting eleven issues. With these issues in mind, Rodgers has already started to look at potential signings for the January transfer window.
The Foxes have been linked to Belgian striker Lois Openda. The 22-year-old has been on fire to kick off the season for RC Lens. His four goals in seven appearances have helped the team currently place third in the league. With him scoring goals in any competition he’s placed in, it’s hard for the East Midlands team not to be interested in signing him.
With Vardy getting older and no word on if Iheanacho and Daka are the future, Openda may be seen as the future of LCFC. He has quickly risen as one of the hottest prospects in the sport. With him still being relatively unknown, here are three things to know about Leicester City transfer target Lois Openda.
Lois Openda joined RC Lens just this summer
What may make this deal difficult for the Foxes is the fact that Openda joined RC Lens just this summer. RC Lens bought him from Belgian side Club Brugge for €9.80m. Openda had been with Club Brugge ever since 2015. He spent time in their youth academy before joining the first team in 2018 at just 18 years old.
Openda would end up playing two seasons with Club Brugge where he would help them win the Belgian Super Cup in 2018/2019 and the Belgian league in 2019/2020. In his 35 appearances with the club, where only six were starts, he scored four goals for the club. With Openda only being 19 years old, the club figured it was best to send him somewhere where he would get consistent first-team playing time.
Lois Openda tore up the Eredivisie
After the 2019/2020 season, Club Brugge loaned out Openda to Eredivisie side Vitesse. He would spend the next two seasons on loan with the club where he would play incredibly. In his 75 appearances with the club, the Belgian scored 31 times and he assisted on eight goals.
In his first season with the club, Openda helped the side finish fourth place in the Eredivisie. This is the highest the team had placed since the 2012/2013 season. While playing alongside Chelsea’s Armando Borja, the former scored ten times. This season proved the forward is up to par with some of the best prospects in the Premier League.
Lois Openda would be Leicester City’s fifth Belgian player
It’s starting to become a trend of clubs buying players from the same nationalities. Some trends include Wolves buying Portuguese players, Leeds buying American players and Nottingham Forrest buying every player. Leicester City may be hopping on this trend as Openda would be the fifth Belgian international on the team if he were to join the squad.
Openda would join Youri Tielemans, Timothy Castagne, Wout Faes, and Dennis Praet as fellow Belgian players on the team. All of these players currently play for Belgium’s international team. The chemistry these players build with each other will help out with the Foxes’ chemistry issues.
Openda made his first main-team appearance for Belgium on June 8th, 2022. He has made three appearances for the team where he’s managed to score one time. The striker has been consistently appearing for Belgium’s youth teams since 2015. In his 56 appearances for Belgium’s youth teams, he has scored 30 goals.