There has been a lot of talk surrounding Charles De Ketelaere and what is working so well at Atalanta compared to what didn’t work in his first season at AC Milan.
Calciomercato.com highlight the staggering contrast in numbers for De Ketelaere in his first two seasons in Italy. In 2022-23 he made 40 appearances for Milan, with zero goals one assist and three yellows, in contrast to 26 appearances at Atalanta with nine goals, seven assists and zero yellow cards.
The young Belgian is showing everyone his talent after an enigmatic season with the Rossoneri and at the moment the Bergamo club seem almost certain to use their €23m option to buy, which added to the €3m loan fee means a minimum of €26m for Milan.
How do Milan feel about things? They paid €32m plus €3m in bonuses to sign him from Club Brugge in the 2022 summer window, making him the marquee signing after winning the Scudetto and even giving him a five-year deal worth €2.2m net per year.
On 30 June 2024 the residual cost of the 22-year-old’s contract will be around €20m meaning that – in addition to the savings on wages – the figures of the deal with La Dea were engineered to generate a capital gain of around €6m.
Stefano Pioli, who was able to make the most of all the new young players he had at his disposal, was not able to bring the best out of De Ketelaere.
The Milan boss turned Theo Hernandez to Rafael Leao into two of the best in the world in their positions, he transformed Pierre Kalulu into a centre-back after Simon Kjaer’s injury, and he tried everything with De Ketelaere too.
He used him as an attacking midfielder behind Olivier Giroud, as a pure midfielder with freedom to move along the entire frontline and then even at times in a front two.
There were no real signs of life, but in Bergamo – with Gian Piero Gasperini making the same move – playing at a club with less pressure allowed the Belgian to make a breakthrough. After all, the Gewiss Stadium is not San Siro, and that is why there are no regrets.
It’s a win-win for both clubs. The weight of the milan shirt was simply too much for CDK, and, without a lucky break on any of the numerous scoring chances he had playing at Milan it just wasn’t meant to be. Happy for CDK as he’s an extremely talented player but not a regretful sell as it simply didn’t work.
Find yourself someone that will protect you as Italian media protects Pioli.
Pioli tried everything with CDK?
Everything except playing him in the position he played prior to coming to Milan and the position he is playing now after he left Milan.
They wanna use the less pressure at Atalanta as a reason why CDK is performing better this season. You could make that case only if he is playing in the same position he played at Milan compared to where he plays and performs well at Atalanta while at Milan because of too much pressure he didn’t. That’s not true. He plays upfront for Atalanta and roaming the wings. The genius Pioli used him only as a 10.
Not to mention that he actually gets to play at Atalanta with continuity.
In 26 games so far this season, CDK has played already 100 more minutes than he did in 40 games for Milan the whole of last season.
Pioli failed CDK, you can defend and excuse Pioli as much as you want, but it won’t change the truth.
When it comes to Pioli improving players.
Kalulu turn himself in a CB by lying to Pioli that he has played there after one of the CBs got injured during a game. Kalulu lost his place as a CB and regressed in his natural position as a RB.
Unless Pioli taught Theo and Leao how to be faster than the other players I don’t see where he improved them.
Theo is still getting smoked on defense and Leao still relies solely on his athleticism. Not to mention that both have regressed under the great Pioli.
Bro. Stop. We all see CDK miss absolute sitters at Milan. My man was missing open nets from a meter away.
He missed a couple of chances for Atalanta in the game vs. Milan. Does that mean that he can’t play? He still has 9 goals and 7 assists. Outperforming and outscoring every Milan player not named Giroud.
Everyone misses chances, even the best of the best, but his movements and read of the game is there.
You’re acting like players never do better after changing teams LOL
Surely you don’t believe that to be true, you just dislike Pioli.
Still pioli barely played him.He should have got much more playtime and pioli should have shown him i belive in you
Man, the hate is strong with this one. Like, yes there are a lot of questionable thing that Pioli has done, but he definitely gave CDK the chances. And let be honest here, the kid never took it and he wasted all of em. Perhaps it just didn’t work just like other greats that failed in Milan but flourish on other clubs. Just like Davids, Ayala, Baggio and Gustavo Gomes that now became one of greatest CB in Latin football
He did try fr. It’s easy to forget how many chances Pioli gave CDK, sometimes even irrationally. Or how many sitters he missed. Pioli infact tweaked the formation one match and used him as a false striker (I remember he got a one-on-one with the goalkeeper after a mistake from the defender, and tried to go round the keeper instead of shooting).
I’m not saying he won’t have found form if left at Milan for the second season or he would have. My point is, don’t act like Pioli ruined him or something. No.
But I guess if you already hate a man, you’d have little problem putting everything that goes wrong on him.
Pioli is garbage when it comes to coaching players and he has shown that with CDK. He wanted to try same thing with Jovic but he disappointed his expectations by always depending on old players and giving the new players chances when it was very late to do something and if he has to play them on time it will be wrong position. Am so happy for CDK and shame to pioli mid table coach
Pioli has been doing a great job with Jovic each time he has been putting him at the right time otherwise he might have never scored these goals. Girous is doing a great job so doesn’t make sense to start jovic given the impact he is having a sub
Yea I forgot about all of Gasperini’s Scudettos….oh wait
It was not a position issue, but a system issue. Pioli game is very direct and rely lots on 1 to 1 and duels in the final third. CDK is not that type of player, 1 to 1 is not his strength and he is not a transition player. He is not Kaka. His talent shines when he can associate with other team mates in small spaces, as he has outstanding ball control and reading of the game and space. His game is made of many small high quality touches, not on winning duels. Atalanta has a more elaborated way of attacking using a lot triangulations and positions exchange on the flanks. Moreover Giroud does not fit with CDK and they tend to do similar movements, although they are different players. It was a wrong signing not because he is not good, but because he was not a good fit.
If a player is good enough he will adapt.
It is rare to build a team around 1 player. You are outlining a very specific way CDK can play, the fact he is not more adaptable is his failure.
Asides from many of the open goal misses others have mentioned. There is the fact he moped around the pitch, showing no heart or hunger.
In fact 1 game where he had a shocking miss, Milan got a late winner. As his teamates celebrated together, he walked off down the tunnel alone with his head down.
That was like game 7 or 8 in the league.
I saw enough that day
Not all the players have a self-sufficient talent that fits any system. It does not mean they are bad. Of course a player like Leao is less dependent on the system, his strenght is 1 to 1 duels. Kaka would fit any system. CDK is not at that level.
1. Some players aren’t meant for the bright lights of San Siro. Or maybe not ready yet.
2. Pressure at Milan >>> Pressure at Bergamo
3. CDK needs to play in a 2 striker system.
4. 26mil is money we can use towards ZEE. not sure where CDK would fit into the current team? For RLC?
It’s OK. Can’t get them all. Glad he’s findings his form, he’s a good player. Good Luck to him.
5. PLEASE FIX THE “POSTING COMMENTS TOO QUICKLY” PROBLEM…