Charles De Ketelaere has not taken off as many hoped since his arrival from Club Brugge in the summer, but there is still plenty of patience for te Belgian.
Tuttosport (via MilanNews) writes how the run of positive results that started against Hellas Verona, continued against Monza and then extended against Dinamo Zagreb sadly did not yield that first goal or breakout performance from De Ketelaere.
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The playmaker has not yet managed to explode as perhaps he expected, and while the Belgian returned from injury and played a part in both the games against Monza and Dinamo, his performances were not inspiring.
It could be that the €35m investment has left the fans impatient but Milan have always preached calm and confidence that the 21-year-old will soon explode, something that his underlying numbers like chances created show, and also his obvious talent in training.
Pioli has already relieved him of any kind of criticism and continues to publicly defend him, while for De Ketelaere he can rest assured knowing that working with the head coach at Milanello is a positive, as seen through the development of Rafael Leao, Sandro Tonali, Theo Hernandez and Pierre Kalulu among others.
The No.90 can take that path, perhaps even faster than his predecessors, because he has the strength and desire to demonstrate his quality. He feels disappointment at how things are going – as shown by the fact he did not join the celebrations after the Monza win – and wants to do better.
The increasing competition from a revitalised Brahim Diaz will of course tempt Pioli to perhaps reverse the hierarchy, or he could make an equally big statement by continuing to trust De Ketelaere.
He should learn some mentality and perhaps trying to act badass like tonali, theo, or even King Zlatan.
I’m sure he will find his form we all need to be patient he, next season he must change his shirt number and trust me he will be the best playmaker in Europe
This kid is golden. 100% Faith in him. Just needs time and he’ll be solid for a long time to come. Kaka took almost 3 months to start performing. Leao – 2 years. Sandro, a year. CDK is OK.