Lecce are the surprise team of Serie A so far, being the only unbeaten side alongside Inter and Juventus, so Stephen Kasiewicz examines how the brilliant Pantaleo Corvino has built the Giallorossi and whether they can reach the heights of the Antonio Conte era.
Among the unbeaten Serie A heavyweights lies an outlier. Lecce have a zero in the loss column along with early frontrunners Inter and Juventus.
The Puglian club were tipped as relegation fodder in a plethora of gloomy prediction lists yet have already picked up eight more points than expected from a challenging first four fixtures.
Lecce mounted a spirited comeback to stun Lazio in an upset 2-1 win at Stadio Via del Mare in the opening round and followed it up with another never-say-die display at Fiorentina. Two down inside 25 minutes they refused to capitulate and claimed a well-deserved point with two second-half goals. A 2-0 home victory over Salernitana before the international break propelled the southern underdogs into fourth place before Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Monza which kept them in a Champions League place, one point above defending champions Napoli.
It would be one of the most incredible achievements in the history of Italian football if the Giallorossi stayed in their current position. Of course, it won’t happen. There’s more chance of Romelu Lukaku making a sensational return to Inter than Lecce finishing among the big boys.
Yet the opening four games at least gave the club’s sizeable support a chance to screenshot the Classifica with their team occupying a Champions League position. There wasn’t much optimism when coach Marco Baroni turned down a salary increase and left for Hellas Verona in the summer.
The experienced tactician had impressively guided Lecce to promotion from Serie B and 16th place in the top flight in two successful seasons at the club. They shocked Lazio, defeated Atalanta home and away and picked up invaluable points against Milan and Napoli all while keeping their place in Serie A with Baroni at the helm last term.
In the capricious Calcio universe, everything can change in the blink of an eye and Roberto D’Aversa replaced Baroni in June. It was an unexpected appointment considering the 48-year-old had been out of the game since January 2022, when Sampdoria sacked him.
He exited the Blucerchiati with his reputation in tatters after three straight defeats left Doria perilously close to the relegation zone. Handed a second chance the early signs are good, but the jury is still out on whether he can lead Lecce to safety. They won’t stay up backtracking into defensive blocks and D’Aversa has adopted a forward-oriented approach while using a 4-3-3 formation in the first three matches.
In a summer of upheaval, I Salentini lost their emotional leader and midfield driving force Morten Hjulmand to Portuguese giants Sporting CP, while defensive rock Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona) and striker Lorenzo Colombo (Milan) also left after loan spells.
Operating in a limited market with severe budgetary impediments, veteran technical director Pantaleo Corvino worked his magic again.
The man responsible for bringing Valeri Bojinov, Ernesto Chevanton, Mirko Vucinic, and Cristian Ledesma to Lecce in the past looks to have struck gold again with the additions of unheralded Montenegrin international striker Nikola Krstovic (DAC Dunajska Streda), Swedish winger Pontus Almqvist (FC Rostov) and Albanian defensive midfielder Ylber Ramadani (Aberdeen).
Krstovic has already struck three times, Almqvist impressed with his goal and acrobatic celebration against Lazio and Ramadani has slotted in smoothly as a midfield anchor.
The trio represent a small part of a strength-in-numbers recruitment drive which also included the permanent signing of goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone from Sampdoria and midfielders Hamza Rafia (Pescara) and Mohamed Kaba (Valenciennes FC).
Despite the raft of new faces, hulking centre-back Federico Baschirotto remains a trusted stalwart in the Lecce starting line-up, while Gabriel Strefezza started the last two games on the bench, but has already scored once this term. The diminutive Brazilian had netted eight times in his second top-flight season in 2022-23 as Lecce relied on his close control and surging runs to open up defences.
Strefezza struck from the spot late to clinch a second league triumph against Salernitana as he spearheads a new-look Giallorossi forward trident.
Baschirotto, who was called up to an Italy training camp in May, claimed three goals as he held together the Lecce backline with Umtiti last campaign. Although the 26-year-old looks like a WWE superstar, he’ll be judged more on his leadership and positioning than his physique this term.
It’s far too soon to make bold declarations about where they will end up in the standings. For a club making just their 18th appearance at the highest level of Italian football, the heady heights of the top half of the table represents significant progress.
You have to go all the way back to the 1988-1989 edition of Serie A to find Lecce’s best-ever finish. A squad containing Argentinian World Cup winner Pedro Pasculli and his compatriot Juan Barbas as well as Antonio Conte, Francesco Moriero and Baroni placed ninth just three points adrift of a UEFA Cup spot. Despite their excellent start just staying among the Italian elite would be more than enough for Lecce this year.
@SKasiewicz