CM: Pioli’s De Ketelaere-Brahim hierarchy gives Milan a squad planning problem

The data shows that Stefano Pioli has made the attacking midfielder hierarchies crystal clear but this presents AC Milan with a problem in their squad planning.

As Calciomercato.com report, Brahim Diaz is on loan from Real Madrid while De Ketelaere was the big signing of the post-Scudetto summer window. However, in the last six months the Belgian has played only two games in Serie A as a starter.

If we take the same period into consideration, Diaz instead got 16 starts and the 23-year-old racked up four goals and two assists. These are numbers that make it clear that Brahim is a staple of Pioli’s plans, more so than De Ketelaere.

This creates a problem because the one being relied upon is the player on loan and the other was a large investment that needs playing time to grow. The constant exclusion of De Ketelaere is seen by many as the symbol of a market which did not bring the desired results.