After the departures of Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai, RB Leipzig are in the market for attacking reinforcements but their pursuit of Lens forward Loïs Openda is at somewhat of a deadlock.
As reported by Kicker, Openda’s valuation by the Ligue 1 club has skyrocketed since the first negotiations following the departures of the aforementioned duo. Because Lens know of Leipzig’s financial situation, it would appear that the club’s latest €43m offer to the French side for Openda won’t be enough. It’s the fourth round of negotiations between the two clubs and it was reported in the first week of June that the Bundesliga side had agreed personal terms with the Belgian forward.
It’s not yet clear where Leipzig go from here. Openda is clearly the preferred candidate to replace Nkunku but the club are now searching for alternatives should they fail in their pursuit. One of those is Arsenal’s Folarin Balogun, who had a stellar campaign in Ligue 1 with Reims last season, scoring 22 goals and creating three in 39 games.
It seems like an important couple of weeks coming up for Leipzig’s Max Eberl, as the club prepare for the 2023/24 campaign.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
