Unfortunate experience. We could summarize what he experienced with just these two words. Kastriot Dermaku wearing the shirt of Lecce.
The Albanian defender in each of the 4 seasons in which he was a Giallorossi player should have represented an added value, an experienced defender capable of making the difference both in Serie B, a category that is too small for him given what he demonstrated before arriving in Salento, and in Serie A, the top division that he had already played in with the Parma shirt.
His arrival
Since yesterday Dermaku has been officially a free agent, as his contract expired on June 30 of this year. When he arrived, in October 2020 during an anomalous transfer market session due to Covid, everyone celebrated his purchase because he had just started 16 games in D’Aversa’s Parma.
Among other things, he also started with a bang with the Lecce shirt, scoring against Cremonese in the home match drawn 2-2.
Then, however, the ordeal of injuries began, also due to Covid, which did not allow him to recover as best as possible from the repeated physical stops he had that season. In the end, in that championship he only took the field 13 times in the championship, between the regular season and the playoffs.
With Baroni on the bench
In Baroni’s first season on the bench of Lecce the ballot was always with Tuia. Dermaku started at the front in the hierarchy but even in that cadet tournament he had to deal with various physical problems.
He was there in spurts but when on the pitch he always made the difference, contributing decisively to the promotion of the Giallorossi. The best period was between November 2021 and January 2022, in which the Albanian central defender took to the green rectangle regularly, playing excellent matches alongside captain Lucioni.
Then, when the muscular discomfort was over, appendicitis came along to complicate and compromise a season that could have represented his rebirth.
The last two seasons
One appearance in the Italian Cup against Cittadella and one appearance in the championship against Udinese, both of which ended prematurely due to physical problems that forced him to ask for a change. Dërmaku he left the pitch angry and disheartened because his body wasn’t responding as he would have liked.
For Lecce he has always been an important player and at the starting line of every season and even with Pongracic, Baschirotto and Umtiti in the squad the Giallorossi club has always considered him a fundamental resource on which to focus during the year.
To tell the truth, last year, before the serious injury with the cruciate ligament rupture, Dermaku was working with great enthusiasm and was very close to returning. Unfortunately, however, we all know how much an injury like this represents a real blow for a professional footballer.
In these seasons, then, in addition to the physical vicissitudes, the class of ’92 also had to deal with his mother’s illness, which contributed to definitively knocking him out also from a psychological point of view.
Unfortunately in recent years he has also lost ownership of the Albanian national team, of which he was one of the cornerstones before arriving in Salento. He is now a free agent but certainly some clubs, even cadet ones, will focus on him, a strong and physically structured defender who in Lecce, despite a promotion, a salvation and 32 excellent matches, had an unfortunate experience.
