Loïs Openda Reflects on Serie A Experience Despite World Cup Omission

Loïs Openda has been left out of Belgium’s 2026 World Cup squad and endured a lean year in front of goal in Italy, but he refuses to file his Serie A stint under “failure”.

For the Belgian forward, that single season was a lesson.

Speaking to L’Equipe, Openda went back to the start, to the pitch laid out for him when he first held talks with the club and with then-director Damien Comolli.

“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 said, underlining the tactical challenge that awaited him in Serie A. “In Italy, the team that really exploits depth is Inter. Roma are only just starting to understand it.”

That detail matters for a player like Openda, whose game is built on running in behind, stretching defences, attacking space. In a league where many sides still prefer to keep the game in front of them, his profile did not always fit the habits of his teammates.

The real squeeze came in his own dressing room. Competition up front was fierce, and Openda did not hide from it.

“The coach wanted me, but Vlahovic and David were already playing in my position,” he explained. “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 pushed, waited, tried to bend the situation his way.

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

That decision, he insists, came without regret.

“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.”

No goals glut, no World Cup ticket. Yet Openda walks away from Italy convinced the experience sharpened him — and that, given a different tactical landscape and a dressing room built for his strengths, the story could read very differently next time.