Lois Openda: Harry Kane's rival in the Bundesliga's striker tussle
Harry Kane, Serhou Guirassy and Victor Boniface are making waves in the Bundesliga. Could Lois Openda upstage them?
Harry Kane has made a flying start to life in the Bundesliga, scoring his eighth league goal for Bayern Munich in Saturday's 2-2 draw with RB Leipzig.
The England captain is not the only striker lighting up the German top flight, however.
Stuttgart's Serhou Guirassy has made headlines with his incredible start to 2023-24, reaching double figures before the end of September, while Victor Boniface has led Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen to the top of the table.
A little further down the goalscoring charts, however, is a player who might yet prove to be Kane's biggest rival.
Lois Openda recorded a goal and an assist for Leipzig in Saturday's draw and has spearheaded a promising start to the campaign for Die Roten Bullen, who sit within one win of the summit with 13 points from six matches.
Here, More Than A Game profiles the Belgium international and asks whether he could frustrate Kane's attempts to become Germany's leading marksman.
OPENDA'S BREAKOUT SEASON
Big things were expected of Openda when Leipzig shelled out €43million to sign him from Lens, who are back in the Champions League for the first time since 2002-03, largely thanks to his goals.
Openda scored 21 Ligue 1 goals in a breakout season in 2022-23, a tally only bettered by Kylian Mbappe (29), Alexandre Lacazette (28) and Jonathan David (24).
Openda's strikes came from a total expected goals (xG) figure of 18.4, at least 5.2 fewer than any of the players who outscored him (Mbappe 26.3, Lacazette 24.2, David 23.6).
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