Club Have ‘Plan’ On Exit Of Star Amid Leeds United Interest | OneFootball

Carl Recine/Getty Images

Juventus have a ‘plan’ to loan out Coventry City and Leeds United target Lois Openda to rejuvenate his career and boost his value in the market, rather than sell him for a loss.

The 26-year-old Belgian forward was linked with several Premier League clubs before joining RB Leipzig in 2023.

Last summer, Sunderland and Aston Villa both were credited with interest, as both clubs were looking to sign a forward to strengthen their attacking department.

It was suggested that Villa contacted Openda’s camp and the player showed interest in joining the Premier League giants, but a move did not materialise and he ended up joining Juventus.

However, Openda’s season with Juventus has not been a smooth one, as he has managed to register only two goals in 34 appearances in all competitions, being widely considered to be a flop.

Juventus are keen to offload him, but know they will not be able to recoup their €40m outlay.

Openda is still drawing interest from England, with newly promoted Coventry City and Leeds United credited as keen.

Coventry City have started planning for next season and the club submitted an enquiry to Juventus to understand whether the Belgian is a realistic target for them in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Leeds, on the other hand, scouted Openda during his days in Ligue 1 and now once again they have the centre forward on their agenda.

Openda has been strongly linked with being wanted by Leeds and a move to Elland Road could certainly appeal to the former RB Leipzig man.

Juventus are now looking at how to move Openda on in the summer transfer window as they look to safeguard their outlay on him.

According to Italian daily Corriere dello Sport (via TuttoJuve), Juventus’ ‘plan’ is to let Openda leave on loan to help to get his career back on track and boost his value in the market.

They hope that a good solid season on loan can help to boost Openda’s value once again.

Former Leeds star Simon Walton recently encouraged Whites boss Daniel Farke to prepare a plan B for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who scored 12 times for them in 32 league games.

Coventry netted 97 goals so far this season, with Haji Wright, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Ellis Simms contributing 43 of them.

The addition of Openda in their attacking department could prove vital for Frank Lampard’s side, who will be looking to stay up in the Premier League next season.