AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli named Charles De Ketelaere as the starting attacking midfielder in a much-changed line-up against Bologna, but once again he did not convince.
As Calciomercato.com report, the most expensive purchase of the summer transfer window after the Scudetto win simply cannot shake off the fear of making a mistake, something which does not correspond with what is expected at a club like Milan.
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Scoring zero goals after he netted 18 with Club Brugge last season is a disappointment but it goes beyond that and is a tactical issue. Up until the game against Monza away from home, the Belgian had also got in the right areas to create the right conditions for scoring.
However, now he’s struggling with confidence and seems to be floundering in the No.10 role. He does not seem a good fit for this Milan side which relies heavily on counter-attacking and breaking at speed, meaning his signing currently looks like a ‘tactical as well as an economic misunderstanding’.
De Ketelaere cost €35m which is a lot for a budget-conscious club like Milan, and he will not be sold after one season given there would be money lost, so now the time has come for Pioli to find a solution.
The first step, however, must come from the player who has had the necessary time to adapt and understand what he can bring to the team. Once positive signs are seen, more will be understood about his potential position.
Of course he will be sold if the right price will come.
If Kompany really wants him and is ready to give us 40 Mil, it wouldn’t be a brainer.
Dybala and Diaz are similar players and the sad truth is that we should have gone for Dybala instead of De Ketelaere.
Then we could have used the 35m to sign kessie replacement like Amrabat.
It blows my mind that maldini and Massara signed De Ketelaere when we already paid 10m to sign Adli for AM but still Pioli doesn’t even play Adli.
A total of 45m wasted on 2 that we didn’t need and they added zero quality to the team.
Another bizarre move was signing Origi instead of Belotti who is Italian and has a better goal scoring record than a useless Origi.
I would love to see Massara and maldini replaced with someone more competent on signing players.
The choices Massara and maldini made last summer was shocking, amateur and bizarre to say the least.
The origi transfer over belotti will forever confuse me. Even though belotti has hardly done much at roma.
We’re talking about a lifelong Milan fan, with many years of serie A exposure. At the very least we would have got a fighter, origi has neither the ability nor the heart. He seems to have the work rate of Ronaldinho, with barely a millionth of the talent.
We already have so few Italians in the squad we can barely maximise our UEFA squad list.
CDK i wasn’t enamoured with but he’s very young, and maybe will develop into a good player in a few seasons. What we’d all like to see from him too, is a bit of effort. Seems like he gives up far too easily. But I understand the management wanting to play the long game with him I expect him to be here until at least summer 2024.
As for Origi? Out asap. To whichever bozo team wants to buy him.
Adli is not n10. He is a tono type of guy.
Cdk is no n10 either. He is a winger, can play left or right.
But Pioli insist in changing players position for what?
Exactly. 100% this. This guy gets it.
I’ve been saying this from the beginning of the season.
At his previous club, he was mostly a forward (ss) and as a right winger.
Then Pioli comes along as tries to make a square peg fit into a round hole. 7 months later? He’s still smashing that square piece into the round hole. Why?
At least Pioli figured out where to put Maignan on the field. Seems like he dumps all extra pieces into an AM, so thanks to the assistant who forced Pioli to start Maignan in goal.
Truth talk
In which world can we afford Dybala? Him being free doesn’t mean he’s cheap. Dybala still gets around 11mil per season which is far far off our wage cap. And Kessie’s agent wanted a 20m commission so that leaves 15 mil to sign a player that gets 12mil in just one season. We couldn’t compete with offers from clubs willing to spend big like Barca. It’s not that straightforward.
Granted I also too think the transfer was a bust at this point. I’d give him one more season to prove me wrong tho
I agree in principle, although Dybala is getting paid 7m per year (6m depending on the source). People think Dybala’s “free transfer” is a low cost operation, and while it is lower cost than purchasing him it’s definitely not free. There are the large salary demands, which would have made him our highest paid player, any signing bonuses, and then the big fact that he’s spent a lot of time in the treatment room and is 28. There is a reason why Juventus didn’t renew the “La Joya” after all. So in comparison CDK is 21, had his entire career ahead of him, no known injury problems, would demand a miniscule salary in comparison, and most importantly represented an opportunity for resale down the road, which Dybala would not. So it makes perfect sense the club made this choice. Clearly if the club had a crystal ball that showed them that CDK would struggle like this they might not have signed him, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say.
Well said. Though i think having Maldini at the helm is a huge advantage for us in many ways
Last summer was a mess. Mainly due to the new owners.
I expect better this year
Unfortunately we missed out on some gems like Alvarez, Martinez, Botman, Dybala even Kvara
This guy hasn’t proved himself for once and our coach keep Fielding him, that nonesense. We still have alot of hungry players on the sidelines like yacine Adli and I bet if that guy is the one being given a ton of opportunities like this he would have made alot of difference. CDK is a failure and he needs to go back to the bench or go out on loan.
Dybala earns 6m per year. He was free. Thats an amazing opportunity missed. He was Serie a mvp a couple of seasons ago and hes still in his prime..
Now hes kicking ass at Roma, what a waste
Could have had him free and spent the cdk money on a striker or RW.