Anthony Onifade

Fri 12 May 2023 10:00, UK

Aston Villa are interested in signing RC Lens striker Lois Openda this summer with the French outfit ready to consider “big” offers, according to CBS journalist Jonathan Johnson.

The exciting French outfit have been one of the surprise packages in Ligue 1 this season and currently sitting second in the table, with Openda their out-right top scorer with 19 goals in a sensational breakout 2022/23 campaign.

The Villans were reported to have sent scouts to watch the talented goal machine [90 Min, 9 May], and he is attracting plenty of interest from clubs around Europe [Santi Aouna, 18 April].

The Sun reported (11 May) that Unai Emery is set to be given a war chest of £200million to spend as he looks to build a squad capable of entering the upper echelons of the Premier League.

With Lens sitting in a lofty position in the French League, clubs may find it difficult to lure Openda away with Champions League football on the cards for the exciting French outfit.

And that could well be the Aston Villa stumbling block if they were to attempt to sign the 19-goal hitman this summer, with the club desperately attempting to secure a Europa League place in the Premier League table.

However, according to French CBS journalist Johnson, writing for Fabrizio Romano’s CaughtOffside substack column [12 May] there could be an intriguing Emery component that could prove helpful in their attempts to lure top stars like Openda.

“Villa being in Europe could make them a more interesting prospect, but I don’t think Openda would be open to dropping down from the Champions League, and Villa are not even guaranteed to be playing in the Europa Conference League at this moment in time.

“Unai Emery’s presence could be attractive, and it’s a project that is starting to spark the interest of some more reputable players around Europe.”

While Openda may not be too interested in dropping down from Champions League level, the lure of playing for Emery could prove very tempting for the 23-year sensation to join the Aston Villa revolution – and what a tremendous pick-up he’d be for Emery to evolve his exciting squad.

The Spaniard has transformed things on the pitch at Villa Park since arriving back in November, taking the club to eighth in the Premier League after 13 wins from 22 top-flight games.

Hailed as “sensational” by sports writer Robin Bairner, the Belgian marksman has scored a remarkable 19 league goals this season, also registering three assists from 34 Ligue 1 games – and sitting as the fourth-top scorer in the division, behind the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Alexandre Lacazette.

With Villa in desperate need of some added attacking and potent quality, Openda certainly fits the bill.

The Belgian amongst forwards within Europe’s top five leagues, ranks in the 96th percentile for non-penalty goals per 90, the 94th percentile for non-penalty xG, and in the 92nd percentile for shots total [FBRef] highlighting his incredible gifts in front of goal.

Aston Villa certainly can’t be heavily reliant on Ollie Watkins next season, as they’ll need another avenue for goals and there may be no better option out there to bring that to Villa Park than Lens’ superb number nine.

Openda is also drawing favourable comparisons with some of Europe’s most devastating marksmen too, with FBRef pointing out him being stylistically similar to Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and even Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema – a hugely attractive proposition for the Villans.

While signing Openda may prove a difficult task given all the talk surrounding the striker and the number of top clubs interested, the lure of playing for one of Europe’s top and elite managers in Emery means Aston Villa will always be in the conversations for top players because of his remarkable pulling power.

The acquisition of Openda could well prove to be the shining example in testing out that promising theory. Get him in.

In other Aston Villa news, the club should go all guns blazing for a £60million signing that Gabby Agbonlahor named a “superstar”.