Charles De Ketelaere’s agent has urged the media and AC Milan fans to be patient with the playmaker, describing his difficulties so far as ‘normal’.
De Ketelaere was Milan’s statement signing in the summer window after they invested over €30m to sign him from Club Brugge and while everyone hoped the Belgian would be an instant solution to the problem of the No.10 role, he is yet to set the world alight.
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So far the 21-year-old only has one assist to his name and is yet to score after having netted 18 times for the Belgian champions last season, and he seems to gone below Brahim Diaz in the hierarchies for the time being.
Tom De Mul – a former player and the agent of De Ketelaere – spoke on the Dutch podcast Sjotcast about the Belgian and in particular the struggles he has had early in the campaign.
“De Ketelaere must be waited for, the difficulties he is experiencing are normal. His development is normal. A first year in a top club always has its ups and downs,” he said (via MilanNews).
“In the meantime it must be said that AC Milan was a great move, the transfer took some time to be finalised. So there is a lot of attention from the media! Charles is having a difficult time, but he works to be successful. His only goal is this. I’m sure he will make it.
“It is up to him to fight to return to the starting line-up. For me it is normal that in the first year there are ups and downs, we must not panic. I know that he had also talked about it with the club. In the sense that they knew that it would take some time to adapt.
“They had similar experiences with Leao and Tonali. It must be said that all those expectations, perhaps, led to a situation in which the boy was judged too harshly. Some criticisms are right, but expectations remain high for the first year. The language, the new culture, such a big club. It’s normal.
“Comparison with Kakà? Ricky was a phenomenon, but it is a comparison that you would rather not have when you start in a new club. However, Pioli and the managers are trusting him. They are calm.”
If Leao is sold in January, the pressure on CDK to produce will get even heavier.
Selfishly i would like it if he isn’t called up for the World cup, so he can stay and get more training to get used to the Milan way of playing. It’s not like he will play a lot for Belgium anyways.
Same goes for Sealemaekers, who on top of that is coming back from injury.
On mi djeluje kao DJETE NA TUTI !
If it is normal, why Pioli wasn’t patient with Paqueta who showed better qualities than CDK ?
Paqueta does NOT have the vision on the field and football intelligence that CDK posses, even if he is struggling right now.
Be patient and leave CDK in a calm environment to adapt and develop. Just remember how bad Leao and Tonali were when they first join us!
If it is normal, why Pioli wasn’t patient with Paqueta who showed better qualities than CDK ?
Paqueta didn’t really fit the system Milan was playing.
Once Pioli switched to double pivot , there was no position available for Paqueta. Also, Milan was playing fast, free flowing, quick passing football, and Paqueta likes to hold on to the ball.
He couldn’t play in double pivot, and he was behind Hakan at 10. That was when Hakan was balling. So, Paqueta asked to be sold, plus he wasn’t happy with life at Milan because there were no other Brazilians on the team
Its perfectly normal and really can happen. Let the guy work in peace.