CorSera: De Ketelaere a knot to untangle as Milan’s stance has changed

Charles De Ketelaere did not have the best first season with AC Milan and the idea of a sale cannot be ruled out, a report claims.

This morning’s edition of Corriere della Sera (via PianetaMilan) described the De Ketelaere situation as a ‘knot to be untangled’ given that Milan invested €35m to sign him but so far have just one assist in return.

Until a few weeks ago it seemed certain that the former Club Brugge star would stay for another season but that was when Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara were the directors, and now things have changed.

Now, it remains to be seen if head coach Stefano Pioli – who left him on the bench in the most important games of last season – sees any role for De Ketelaere next season, given he has a greater say in transfer decisions.

The hypothesis of a loan transfer is not excluded, neither is a permanent exit either, but it would require at least a €28m bid to avoid a loss on the accounts.

If the Belgian were sold it seems his replacement has already been identified: Arda Güler of Fenerbahçe.

Tags AC Milan Charles De Ketelaere

8 Comments

  1. The amount of speculation as well as surprise is hilarious.

    First Pioli didn’t leave him on the bench. CDK started the first few games but struggled, and Brahim single handily won us the game against Juve so was preferred from then on.

    Second how was any of this a surprise? The vast majority of transfers each window end up like this because it’s extremely difficult to create the same conditions at a new club that saw a player achieve success at their previous club.

    This is why clubs and fans shouldn’t put all of their eggs in the transfer basket. It’s more important to get the manager and culture right than to sign a bucket load of players. We saw this at Chelsea and Man City when they first got taken over by oligarchs and despots.

    Now Milan have put in place the right manager and culture for success and Maldini was a big part of that including with his stance on agents. It was precisely because players were forced to see out their contracts and show some semblance of decency and loyalty that we set the bar for what is expected of a Milan player.

    Maldini is gone. Pioli is still there for now. I doubt there was this great divide between the two given their shared histories and successes. But who knows? And frankly who cares?

  2. De Ketelaere needs more confidence and he should stay till atleast January.
    And for the issue of his replacement, Guler, Milan needs to stop being associated with every player out there,while we know that we have a cap on our budget. Whether it’s media hype or PR for our name to be associated with quality players,we should stop. We will not pay the required monies. Its embarrassing to keep being linked with players and lose them because of our financial situation. Let’s keep it modest and focused

    1. I like this your comment in totality. If not for the unknown issue Pioli has, CDK should solve one of our issues for now either CF or RW, but it’s Pioli and change isn’t one of his best trait which is a big problem for this team.

  3. He needs at least three to four years to settle in give him time he is a good long term investment and still i think will have a similar story to de bruyen he just needs to play more and break out of his shell poor guy is stunned from all the amount of fans and media give him time to settle damn it

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