Charles De Ketelaere has not yet exploded after his big money move to AC Milan, but patience is needed with the young forward during his period of adaptation.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) write this morning how the anonymous performance from De Ketelaere against Red Bull Salzburg was enough to spark the first criticisms towards the Belgian.
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With a big price tag comes lofty expectations, but the paper argues that De Ketelaere must be allowed to grow with patience and above all he must be given the time to settle in, because his qualities are evident.
Even on Tuesday in a difficult game against a very intense opponent he still managed to provide a spark and had a hand in the equalising goal, so he had an impact in the game despite being well guarded.
Stefano Pioli also realised that he had not put De Ketelaere in the right conditions to shine: “Did he find little from his team-mates? Yes, it could be, he was well marked by their low block. Our build-up was not that fast but it is inevitable that he should be given time to adapt.”
Milan fans should be calm because Pioli is perfectly aware of the situation, knowing that he has a diamond in his hands that must be polished. Even though he came for over €30m, De Ketelaere is still a 21-year-old boy coming from a less tactical and perhaps also less technical league in Belgium.
In addition to that, it is very normal for a player to need time to accustom not only to new team-mates, a new formation, new tactical instructions and a whole new set of challenges, but he is a young boy who must adapt to a new country and a new environment entirely, with a different culture and language.
It is therefore useless to ring any alarm bells after a single performance, on his debut in the Champions League with Milan. Patience is a virtue.
Even now while CDK is “still learning” he’s still an upgrade over Diaz. The difference is that CDK has waaaay more room for improvement as he gets familiar with the new environment. Diaz doesn’t have that excuse. Once he gets his old self back things start to roll and Milan doesn’t have to rely on the left-side alone.
I mean we waited a year or more for the likes of Leao or Kessie to really ‘explode’ so I don’t see why this wouldn’t be the same. He just needs to have the right attitude like those guys.
That said, has any AM excelled in Pioli’s system? I’m starting to think it’s a hiding to nothing, especially seeing how Paqueta has flourished since leaving. Diaz has obviously struggled at times, Hakan was great for set pieces but nothing spectacular under Pioli. That’s not a criticism of his league-winning tactics, just wondering if it isolates the central AM a lot in order to free up other areas of the pitch.
Thats because we havent had a good AM until now. I think CDK will help us a lot this year
Why would there be alarm bells? CDK has been decent, especially for coming in late into the pre season.
Pioli needs to find a way to get him more on the ball. Bennacer and Tonali should be looking for him when they get the ball.
He will be fine
I did not hear alarm bells for CDK but I hear a lot for Origi despite him had only play less than 90 minutes in Milan shirt (that include pre-season which he missed entirely).
Why are we even discussing about, CDK improves Milans quality whenever he plays
Im happy with CDK
overall good purchase and an upgrade
he living up to the team’s hype
im just worried that ac milan is not living up to his hype
absolutely no one is ringing alarm bells over CDK. waste of publishing.
The journalist just needed to write something.Anything.This is the best he could come up with.Anyone who doesn’t see what CDK has as a footballer needs to start watching baseball.
This article is ridiculous … as most of the posts above already said, there ARE NO alarm bells for CDK! Sure he’s made a couple mistakes here or there; but mostly he’s been really great. That move/dribbling against Inter when he beat 2 defenders and was dragged down from behind by Brozovic showed:
1. his skills/footwork on the ball
2. strength shielding off defenders
3. speed while with the ball to beat/run past defenders
Also, he’s shown some great vision in his performances.
He actually couldn’t be further from “alarm bells” — I’m so happy that he is actually (so far) seeming to live up to all the hype we read all summer long during our endless saga/pursuit of signing him!
Absolutely nothing to worry about with regards CDK. This boy reminds me so much of Kaká. His quality is very evident and soon he will find his groove. And I’m sure that will happen once he finds his first goal.