In 2000 he joined U.S. Lecce in Italy, but left the club after appearing in only one fourth of the Serie A games during the season, with the Apulia side narrowly avoiding relegation.
Born in Tamale, Ayew started playing professionally in France at only 17, spending a couple of Ligue 1 seasons with FC Metz, then moved to Qatar with Al Ahli SC and played in another country in the following two years, Italy, appearing and scoring sparingly for U.S. Lecce (for instance, he netted four goals in 1993–94's Serie A as his club ranked last with only 28 goals, a competition-worst).
He quickly caught the attention of Pantaleo Corvino, the sporting director of the Italian football club Lecce and was transferred to Lecce in the summer of 2000.
A promising youngster, Bojinov settled in Lecce and continued his studies there while playing for U.S. Lecce youth teams.
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Bojinov was discovered at the age of 14 by Lecce sports director Pantaleo Corvino, while playing for Pietà Hotspurs, and signed for just 30,000,000 ITL (around €15,000).