Charles De Ketelaere was sent out on loan to Atalanta for the 2023-24 season after a disappointing first campaign with AC Milan, and he seems to have rediscovered some confidence.
Calciomercato.com recall that the early part of the season was very positive for De Ketelaere as he scored against Sassuolo before registering a few assists, but he has been hampered by recent physical problems and thus the Belgian’s aura seems to have faded.
De Ketelaere is repeating all the signs from his debut season with Milan. The makings of a great player are there, there are flashes of brilliance, but he appears to have slipped into a rut of form and the challenge is for him to not spiral downwards again.
Atalanta paid €3m to sign De Ketelaere on loan, with a €23m option to buy and €4m in potential bonuses, a figure that means the Rossoneri would not record a capital loss if he were to leave permanently for Bergamo. There is no buy-back, but there is a 10% resale clause.
Gian Piero Gasperini put his trust in him from the first day of the training camp, convinced that a player with his technical and physical characteristics could show himself in his Atalanta system.
The intention is to insist on him in the next matches because in addition to being a resource, the playmaker remains a bet to win for La Dea. The chances of a permanent acquisition remain high, but a turnaround in form is needed.
Whaaaaaaat? I thought CDK had escaped Pioli’s stupid coaching methods and blossomed into Rui Costa? (Cue: 2000-word essay from chrisp on how we got it all wrong and CDK’s actually a genius.)
The position in this article is non-sensical but if you think through it, it does contain the truth of the situation.
If all it took was a few weeks of injury to take the lustre off CDK, what does that really say about his ‘form’?
Scoring a goal and rolling a few assists is not form. It’s scoring a goal and rolling a few assists. This is exactly what played out last year. If CDK scored a few taps ins and headers, and scored 5 or 6 goals, without anything more he would be no closer to being Milan-standard #10.
The fundamental issue he has is with his skillset (he is no more #10 than he is a SS or a RW) and the quality of his play.
That doesn’t mean Gasperini doesn’t believe in CDK but it fits in with the reality that Gasperini’s preference is for an attacking 3 of Lookman-Scamacca-Koopmeiners (a formation of 2 AMs and a #9) which has revealed itself as these players all found fitness.