Leeds United send scouts to watch Lens striker Lois Openda, valued at £26.4m for summer transfer
Leeds United have sent scouts to watch Belgian striker Lois Openda shine for Lens this season ahead of a mooted £26.4m move this summer.
Openda joined the Ligue 1 club last season and has notched 15 goals in 31 appearances in the league, which helped him earn a place in the Red Devils squad for the World Cup earlier this season.
His performances have also attracted the interest of European clubs like Eintracht Frankfurt, Inter Milan, Monaco and Marseille but with a contract running until 2027, there have been no firm contacts yet according to Foot Mercato journalist Santi Aouna (18 April).
“Lois Openda. Frankfurt, Leeds, Inter Milan, Monaco and Marseille all appreciate his profile,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account.
The report also states that the “explosive” striker is very happy in Lens currently, however an offer of around €30m (£26.4m) could be enough to make him and Lens think about a potential exit.
Profile
The profile is Openda is very similar to the type of attackers we already have at Elland Road, but it is interesting to see the club still going for it.
This season the team performances haven’t been anywhere near good enough and we have seriously lacked a natural goalscorer, despite the good form of Rodrigo Moreno.
But he is ageing now, and Patrick Bamford simply can’t be relied on anymore as the first-choice centre forward but surely someone with more experience is necessary to lead the line on a regular basis.
Openda’s goal record has been good everywhere he’s been, but as we have seen with Georginio Rutter the transition to the Premier League isn’t easy.
Firstly though, we need to avoid relegation to have any sort of chance of being able to convince him to come to Elland Road and that is much easier said than done for Leeds right now.
In other Leeds news, Robbie Savage has made his relegation prediction for the season.