The FIGC has blocked Lameck Banda's attempted move to Libyan club Swehly SC, ruling that the Lecce midfielder remains bound by his existing contract with the Salentini and cannot be registered elsewhere as a free agent. The ruling lands in the opening weeks of the 2025-26 pre-season, closing off what appeared to be an exit route for a player whose future at Via del Mare had grown increasingly uncertain.
The significance of the decision extends beyond one transfer window. Banda, 25, is now locked into a Lecce squad that finished 17th in Serie A last season — 35 points from 37 matches, nine wins against twenty defeats, a goal difference of minus twenty-three. Eusebio Di Francesco's side survived, but only just, and the club enters the new campaign with the same structural fragility that defined the last one. For Banda, the FIGC ruling means he will either contribute to solving that problem or spend the season in a situation neither party appears to have chosen freely.
His numbers from last season offer a more nuanced picture than the club's standings suggest. Across 31 appearances, Banda contributed four goals and four assists, carrying an average match rating of 6.80 — a respectable return for a midfielder operating behind one of Serie A's least productive attacks. His AI overall score of 63 out of 100, with a projected ceiling of 72, marks him as a player with demonstrable room to develop, which is precisely what makes the Swehly situation puzzling. A move to Libyan football would have represented a significant step down in competitive level, and the FIGC's intervention may, in the longer term, serve Banda's development better than the transfer itself would have.
Lecce's pre-season has otherwise carried a cautiously positive note. Di Francesco's side came through a friendly in good shape, with the squad building towards their Coppa Italia opener. The club's transfer activity has been active enough to attract attention — interest in Tiago Gabriel from Milan and Napoli signals that Lecce have assembled at least one asset of genuine market value — though the departure of sporting director Pantaleo Corvino introduces a layer of institutional uncertainty heading into the new season.
Banda's situation now sits in a holding pattern. Contractually tied to Lecce, with a transfer ruled invalid by the federation, he reports for pre-season as a player the club did not lose but may not have been trying to keep. Di Francesco will need contributions from every corner of his squad if Lecce are to improve on last season's survival arithmetic. Banda's output last term — eight direct goal involvements in 31 matches — suggests he is capable of being part of that improvement. Whether the circumstances allow him to be is the question the season will answer.