AC Milan have made Lois Openda their number one striker target ahead of the summer, and La Gazzetta dello Sport have published nine interesting facts about him.
The paper (as seen below) recall how Openda told L’Equipe about his habits to improve performance: “In the evening I wear orange lenses for screens and, before sleeping, I take a hot shower and take melatonin. In the morning cold shower to wake me up. To recover sooner, do breathing exercises.”
Openda’s diet is based on rice, chicken and fruit to have energy during the match. Another small anecdote: as a child, one day his coach noticed that he had arrived without having eaten, so at half-time he sent him to get a hamburger at the bar behind the stadium. The result? A hat-trick in the second half.
Het Laatste Nieuws, a Belgian newspaper, collected opinions and anecdotes from those who knew Openda as a child. One of his former coaches, Pierre Frenay, recalled how Openda was almost released by Standard Liège.
“He was the fastest player in the entire academy, but his U14 coach didn’t treat him adequately,” so much so that he called him ‘my black sheep’. Openda held out, went to Brugge and, thanks to her mother’s closeness, managed to turn around.
Back in Standard Liège days, team-mate Paul-José M’Poku
helped the Openda family pay his membership fee. Openda could now move and sign a big contract elsewhere, but Mpoku’s career rather tailed off as he played at Al-Wahda and Konyaspor, while now he’s in Korea at Incheon United.
His mother Mariame is the most important person in Openda’s life. “My only reason for living,” he wrote years ago on Instagram. Mariame worked for two to help Lois and her brothers in her growth, she believed in his dream of becoming a footballer, she has always been close to him.
When Lois was called up by Belgium for the World Cup in Qatar, she said: “I received a message from my mum, who was proud, and from my brother… who almost passed out.”
Openda’s mother revealed that the striker was hospitalised for bronchitis as a child. “He had to do a particular operation. Outside the hospital, the doctor told me that he would no longer be able to run,” she said. Today, running is his best quality.
Openda moved to Club Brugge aged 15 and initially struggled. They were the first club that made him play at the highest level, before he moved to Vitesse in the Netherlands. The protagonist of the negotiation, Vincent Mannaert.
Interestingly, he is the same director who spoke with Milan for De Ketelaere and he recalled a year ago: “I sold Openda in 72 hours, for De Ketelaere the days were never enough.”
Between 2017 and 2018 he participated in two Viareggio Cups, playing against Moise Kean’s Juventus and scoring against Raspadori’s Sassuolo . In the national team he scored two goals with the Under 19 team in Padua (Carnesecchi was in goal) and challenged Leao in a Belgium-Portugal U17 match.
Openda could have chosen his mother’s national team (Morocco), but also that of his father (Congo). The decision, however, fell on the country where he grew up, namely Belgium: “When you see De Bruyne with the ball, you know he’s going to put it on your feet.”
177cm striker?
Look at the profile of the most prolific goal scorers in Italy.
Lautaro is 174
That’s 1 striker and he plays next to a giant (whether it is Lukaku or Dzeko).
On the other hand, Immobile, Beto, Victor O, Vlahovic, Scammaca, Berlotti, Nzola, Arnautovic, Ibra, Giroud is what the strikers look like when they’re playing alone and scoring.
I am not counting wingers because that’s a completely different role.
Although he’s from belgium, but he is in great shape and is african descent which gives more stamina and strength by looking at his stats.
Why has Thuram’s name disappeared from our radars?
6m to 7m a year.
We’re not going to be able to match EPL.
I suspect they don’t want to set a precedent for other players, either.
Leao had to win Serie A MVP and carry the attack on his shoulders to earn 6m to 7m.
Thuram has an average record to demand that salary and for us to consider paying it.