The mystery of the disappearance of Zambian Lameck Banda from the training sessions of the Italian team Lecce remains with unknown causes.
Lameck Banda
Club: Lecce
The club was unable to contact the player amid his delay in returning with the team to participate since July 12 in the preparatory period for the new season.
Stefano Trinchera, the sports director of Italian Lecce, said in statements to the Italian newspaper "Corriere dello Sport": "We have not received any news about our player Lameck Banda for two weeks, nor from his agents. We started to fear that something might have happened to him unrelated to football".
He added, "I started to think that behind this situation is not a strategy to get something from Lecce, but perhaps there are some personal problems. Unfortunately, we also started thinking this way, because what is happening is very abnormal".
For his part, club president Saverio Damiani said: "I have not faced a situation like this in 11 years. The player has completely disappeared. I do not know the motives for this behavior, and I hope there are no other more serious problems that we are unaware of".
The Italian newspaper report indicated that Saudi Al-Fateh had submitted a huge offer for the player, and in light of his absence, the Saudi club turned its attention to other players.
Lecce initially downplayed the situation and revealed that the player was facing administrative issues related to his passport that prevented him from leaving his country, and later the player posted a clip of himself playing football with his teammates which was then deleted, and the club has been unable to reach the player until now.
News of the player was cut off on July 23 when he was last seen with his wife at Lusaka Airport in Zambia.
The 25-year-old joined Lecce in 2022 and played 104 matches in the Italian league, scoring 9 goals and providing 10 assists.
Last season, Banda contributed to keeping his team in the Italian league and avoiding relegation by scoring 5 goals and providing 4 assists in 32 matches in the Italian league.
Lecce is preparing for the start of the new season with a match against Palermo in the round of 64 of the Italian Cup in mid-August.