Yesterday’s derby defeat against Inter was another game in which Charles De Ketelaere not only didn’t start, but didn’t play a single minute off the bench either.
MilanNews dive into De Ketelaere’s situation and how he is perhaps the symbol of a summer transfer window that is drawing more and more scrutiny from fans who are not happy with the lack of contribution from new signings.
In the post-Scudetto summer, Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara lost a month due to the tug of war over the renewal of their contract, and having acquired greater power in transfer decisions the first big turning point was that Sven Botman – a major target – decided to move to Newcastle United.
The Rossoneri failed to compete with the economic offer put forward by a club with embarrassing riches, but instead of looking for a similar centre-back that was around the amount they were willing to spend for Botman, the De Ketelaere saga began.
The Belgian had been watched for a long time and identified as the ideal profile to give quality and talent to the attacking department. Negotiations lasted about three weeks, but in the end he joined for a fee of €32m plus €3m in bonuses.
To complete the attack the decision was made to sign Divock Origi on a free and then Junior Messias on a permanent basis, while in midfield both Renato Sanches and Enzo Fernandez went elsewhere so Aster Vranckx came on loan from Wolfsburg. The market closed with Malick Thiaw joining on a permanent deal and Sergino Dest on loan due to Alessandro Florenzi’s injury.
Back to De Ketelaere, the numbers are not encouraging. In Serie A he as played 36% of the minutes available, with 29% of games being as a starter, resulting in 17 total appearances for 683 minutes.
Aster Vrankcx, played only 5% of the minutes available with no starts. Thiaw has 7 total appearances for 70 minutes, only 9% of minutes played of those available with 11% of games as a starter. Sergino Dest has played 21% of the available playing time, 12% of the games as a starter with 8 total appearances totalling 324 minutes. Yacine Adli was used for only 6% of total minutes, 5% of games as a starter, with 4 appearances totalling 114 minutes.
In a moment of crisis like this, Pioli decided to use Junior Messias as a mezzala in a 3-5-2 in a huge game such as the derby, rather than to trust those who have not had any chance until now to show what they can do.
With so much time and money invested to sign a player like De Ketelaere, the decision not to trust him even a little seems more and more perplexing.
