Loïs Openda Reflects on Serie A Experience and Future Aspirations

Loïs Openda has missed out on Belgium’s squad for the 2026 World Cup, his numbers in front of goal in Italy never quite matching the hype. Yet the striker refuses to file his solitary Serie A season under “failure”.

For him, that year was an education.

Speaking to L’Equipe, Openda went back to the start, to the pitch laid out by then-club director Damien Comolli and to a league he knew would test him in different ways.

“I spoke with Damien Comolli, who was then the club director, and he explained how he intended to use me in a difficult league,” Openda recalled. “In Italy, the team that really exploits depth is Inter. Roma are only just starting to understand it.”

That idea of “depth” – running beyond the last defender, attacking space rather than feet – sits at the heart of Openda’s game. It did not always sit at the heart of his team’s plans.

Competition for places up front quickly sharpened the picture. The Belgian found himself jostling with Dusan Vlahovic and Jonathan David for the same role, a traffic jam in the very zone where he wanted freedom.

“The coach wanted me, but Vlahovic and David were already playing in my position,” he said. “I had good chemistry with David, but the team wasn't used to playing with a player who runs in behind, and Vlahovic tended to keep the ball to himself.”

He kept pushing. Minutes came, but not enough. Starts arrived, then disappeared again. As the season wore on, the pattern hardened.

“I tried to get my chance, and sometimes I did,” Openda admitted. “But towards the end of the season, I realised that to play, I had to leave.”

That decision, he insists, was not an admission of defeat. It was a calculated move.

“It wasn't a mistake, and it allowed me to work on aspects I hadn't considered. I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I'm sure that in other circumstances, it would have gone better.”

A year in Italy, then out. No World Cup ticket with Belgium. Yet Openda walks away convinced the tactical grind of Serie A has carved out new edges to his game. The next club that truly plays to his runs in behind may be the one that finds out just how much that season was really worth.