Banda's mission: to reconquer Lecce

LECCE - Next season will be the fourth for winger Lameck Banda with the Lecce jersey. For the Zambian, it will be a very important year in terms of the future because up to now he has often shown glimpses of considerable potential, which however have only partially translated into convincing performances, also due to some injuries that have slowed his growth. In short, in 2025/2026, the 24-year-old originally from Lusaka will have to be able to make that long-awaited leap in quality, in order to avoid being perpetually in the limbo of those who could do much more but cannot.

The technical area manager Pantaleo Corvino brought him to Salento in the summer of 2022, in the top division. Marco Baroni, the trainer at the time, focused on him continuously, so much so that the boy, in his first adventure in Italy, collected 36 appearances, of which 19 from the start and 17 as a substitute. Furthermore, he embellished his championship, scoring 2 goals and providing an assist.

He scored for the first time on November 12, 2022, on matchday fifteen, in Sampdoria-Lecce 0-2, scoring the second goal for the Giallorossi. Then he scored again in the thirty-eighth and final round, on June 4, 2023, in Lecce-Bologna 2-3, breaking the deadlock. In Lecce-Empoli 1-1 on August 28, 2022, he sent Gabriel Strefezza to the net, who scored the equalizer for the Salento team.

In this first year with the yellow and red jersey, Banda stood out for his great vivacity on the left flank and his ability to beat his man at speed. In short, the classic footballer who can prove invaluable because he is able to guarantee numerical superiority in the attacking phase. At the same time, however, he also showed a significant limitation in that he too often failed at the moment of the last choice, that is, when it came to finishing on goal or serving the better-positioned teammate.

Given his young age and the fact that the 2022/2023 tournament was his first in Italy, most experts believed that he would have done better in 2023/2024. This was the case in the first phase of the championship, in which he proved to be very effective on the left lane, with Pontus Almqvist showing off on the right. In this period, Banda scored in Lecce-Milan 2-2 (the goal that tied the game) on 11 November 2023 and in Empoli-Lecce 1-1 (the goal that made it temporarily 0-1) on 11 December 2023. Furthermore, he provided 2 assists in Fiorentina-Lecce 2-2 (to Hamza Rafia and Nikola Krstovic), one in Roma-Lecce 2-1 (to Almqvist) and one in Lecce-Frosinone 2-1 (to Roberto Piccoli).

All this despite the fact that the Zambian was also forced into the infirmary due to a muscle problem. Then he was called up by his national team to play in the Africa Cup of Nations and upon his return he was never in top condition. He had to deal with other physical problems and from the thirty-third to the thirty-eighth matchday he was definitively out because he had to undergo surgery on his ankle. Overall, in Serie A, in 2023/2024, he took the field 21 times, 17 from the start and 4 as a substitute.

The season archived a few weeks ago with Lecce's third historic salvation has turned out to be the most troubled of his cycle in Salento. In the first 12 rounds, the Zambian winger has made 10 appearances, leaving his mark only in Lecce-Verona 1-0 on 29 October 2024, serving up the assist for the winning goal for Patrick Dorgu. From the thirteenth to the twenty-sixth matchday he was blocked by a malleolar fracture. Once available again he put together 5 scraps of matches, but without ever giving the feeling of being able to be useful to the cause.

There are still many insiders who are convinced that Banda can make the difference. In this light, in view of the next season, we can hope that the Zambian can carry out the entire preparation phase without a hitch and shows up at the start in top form. His accelerations along the left flank and his ability in one-on-one situations could prove to be a lethal weapon in the 4-3-3 that will be set up by Eusebio Di Francesco. But only if he is at one hundred percent and finally manages to calibrate his conclusions on goal and the final pass to his teammates.

«Giuseppe», as Banda has been nicknamed within the Giallorossi locker room, is tied to the club on Via Colonel Costadura by a contract that will expire on 30 June 2026, but Lecce has an option to renew it for a further season.

SOLIDARITY Yesterday morning, in the presence of the prefect of Lecce Natalino Manno, the president Saverio Sticchi Damiani, the founder of the Emmanuel ETS Community Father Mario Marafioti and the manager of the Emporio della Solidarietà Salvatore Esposito signed the protocol “Fai Rete con la povertà”, promoted by the Giallorossi association to support the Emporio della Solidarietà. US Lecce will involve its commercial partners to lend a hand to the initiative, to which it will contribute directly.

On the forty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Emmanuel Community, the club on Via Colonel Costadura, confirming its commitment also in the social field, reiterated its closeness to Emmanuel, in the "conviction that the network work coordinated by the Prefecture can concretely meet the needs of the most fragile people".