Everton table bid for Lens striker Lois Openda for January transfer
Everton have tabled a bid for Lens striker Lois Openda for a January transfer, but the Ligue 1 club have turned them down, according to Ignazio Genuardi.
The Toffees are desperate to sign a striker during this month to boost their goal tally and try to stave off relegation under Frank Lampard for a second consecutive season.
And they turned their attention towards 22-year-old Belgium international Openda with a bid earlier this month, but they were turned away with Lens not interested in a winter sale and now AC Milan are tracking the player for a potential summer deal.
“AC Milan continues to closely monitor the performance of Lois Openda, who has been supervised several times in recent months,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account (18 January).
“For now, it is a privileged track to strengthen the Lombard attack next summer.
“On the Premier League side, Everton made a bid for this winter, but the Sang et Or rejected the offer.”
More disappointment
Openda is hardly a big name, but that is usually a good thing when it comes to discovering talent and he seems like he could really solve our issues.
At 22-years-old he has so far managed to hit an impressive 57 goals in 168 career appearances to date, including 28 goals in 50 appearances for Vitesse last season.
This season so far he has hit nine Ligue 1 goals in 20 appearances, and in 2022 he managed two goals for Belgium in six caps for the senior team, proving that he is capable of stepping up to a higher level.
A lot like the move for Mykhaylo Mudryk in the summer though, it seems as though this deal may be beyond the club revisiting it in the summer due to other interests, so it’s a shame we couldn’t get it done this month.
There is no time to dwell on this deal though as we are absolutely desperate to bring a striker in, and we need to look at alternative options to make sure someone comes in before the deadline.