Bundesliga upstarts RasenBallsport Leipzig have dipped into their pockets this summer to splash a club record fee after agreeing to sign highly-touted RC Lens striker Loïs Openda.
The 23-year-old Belgian international endured a fantastic 2022-23 campaign at Stade Bollaert-Delelis to help Les Sang et Or back into the Champions League for the first time in two decades after finishing runner-up in Ligue 1.
RB Leipzig are set to sign Loïc Openda on permanent transfer, agreement now in place and here we go! ⚪️🔴
Final fee close to €40m, as per Kicker — waiting for the documents to be signed.
Huge signing for Leipzig, Openda will undergo medical tests soon. pic.twitter.com/C1TzUQtwEX
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 12, 2023
As such, RBL has seen fit to shell out ~€40m on the former Club Brugge starlet, whose 21 league goals last season were bettered by only Kylian Mbappé, Alexandre Lacaxette, and Jonathan David.
Loïs Openda will be the most expensive signing in RB Leipzig history ⚪️🔴🇧🇪
◉ €38m guaranteed fee to RC Lens plus add-ons.
◉ Contract valid until June 2028, five year deal.
◉ Medical tests already booked in the next days.Record signing and top deal. ✨
Here we go ✔️ pic.twitter.com/bdC9PFQ9oY
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 12, 2023
The signing will come in the wake of Leipzig seeing French star Christopher Nkunku head off to the Premier League and join Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea, while the club has also lost key midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Openda’s confirmed arrival takes the club’s total summer spending to date to ~€108m, which would constitute another club record marker.
The Liège-born forward, who was prolific for Belgium’s U21′s before breaking into the full senior side in 2022, has risen through the continental footballing ladder expertly over the last five seasons, first breaking into the senior team at Brugge before enjoying a successful loan spell with Vitesse Arnhem in the Dutch Eredivisie and then moving to Lens before truly exploding in the top flight of French football in memorable fashion.
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