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Hassane Bandé would never have guessed that his start at Ajax would turn-out in the nightmare it did. In the pre-season of 2018-2019, Bande broke his leg and tore his ligament in a friendly match against Anderlecht. It took him more than a year to recover. The winger speaks about it with Ajax TV.
‘I couldn’t believe that I broke my leg in my first few weeks in Amsterdam. It was my first injury in my career and immediately it was a nasty one. When the doctors told me I’ve had broken my leg, I didn’t know what to do. It was so painful.’ says Bandé in an interview with Ajax TV.
The injury was the start of a rough period for the winger from Burkina Faso but fortunately, things are better now and last Wednesday he even scored in a friendly against Willem II which Ajax won with 6-1. ‘I’m still not completely fit but I work hard to get back to the level I had before my injury. Step by step it’s going in the right direction. I’m doing extra training after the group training with Richard Witschge, the trainer of Jong Ajax and some other trainers.’
Bandé continues: ‘My leg can’t break anymore since they placed an iron pin in my leg. The only fear I have is the mental fear of breaking it again. My goal at Ajax is still the same: I want to play for the first team, make goals and help the team with winning prices. I want to make the fans happy.’
Despite the fact that Bandé haven’t played much since he came to Amsterdam, the winger does feel home within the group and spends the most time with another African attacker: ‘I get along with everybody and I’m friends with a lot of people but my best friend is Lassina Traoré, the fact that we speak the same language makes things easier. Besides that, I’m friends with André Onana, Zakaria Labyad, Hakim Ziyech, and Noussair Mazraoui.’.
Hassana Bandé started his career at the Salitas Football School in Burkina Faso and earned a transfer to Belgium club KV Mechelen in the summer of 2017. In his first months at KV Mechelen he made such a great impression that Ajax bought him for seven and a half million euros. In his only season in Belgium, he scored 12 times in 27 matches. After his injury and a long period of recovery Bandé made his official debut for Ajax in the game between Jong Ajax and Jong FC Utrecht on 21 October. His first official minutes in the first squad are yet to come. Bandé is on the way back, but not fully recovered yet