It just had to be him. After going a full season without a Serie A goal, Charles De Ketelaere took less than 40 minutes to open his account for Atalanta.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) reports this morning, if the signing of De Ketelaere was a gamble by Atalanta, it certainly wasn’t a stab in the dark based on the very positive signed from yesterday.
The Belgian came on at half-time with more conviction than he has shown before, hitting the crossbar and generally getting himself in positions to score. A header got him off the mark for La Dea and it was no more than they deserved in a dominant performance.
De Ketelaere started as a second striker playing off Gianluca Scamacca before drifting more into wide areas. It is the position that he occupied at Club Brugge and which saw him score 18 goals and add 10 assists.
Milan sanctioned his exit on a loan with option to buy deal that includes bonuses and a resale clause too. The management will have watched on as the 22-year-old put in a Man of the Match-worthy performance.
The paper gave him a 7.5, with the following comment: “But what quality!”
*grabs popcorn*
What nobody has latched on to is the fact that he is wearing number 17 at Atalanta…
😂 lol
Poli couldn’t squeeze anything out of him…becos Poli gave all the prime love to a loanee Diaz. This SEASON cdk could well form a fearsome twin attack with scamacca. Meanwhile Poli’s 433 will fall flat as this formation just not MILAN DNA. Our preseason friendly show it all. We struggled with all the top teams
Only pro-pioli don’t know the smell of a pheromones! Chelsea Nd Arsenal rejects is now Milan assets! What a fall from grace to grass for Milan! Indeed the glorious days are long gone
Am waiting for CDK to silence pioli when we play Atlanta. I said it for this player to have gone to all levels of World Cup at age of 21 is special yet mediocre coach pioli with his old modern and no updated style of play let him slip. Watch 5 games of pioli and he’s out
Again, let’s hope Pioli doesn’t mess us up this season, as we can all see the possibility of that happening all over again, from last season evidence of poor team management and selection.
The poor team management and selection that got us to the semi-finals of the Champions League?
Hilariously the reason we struggled for 4th was because we outdid ourselves in Europe.
How very dare we!
If only we would have had a massive talent and goal-scoring monster like CDK on our squad last season… Who knows, maybe we would have beaten Inter AND ManCity in the UCL….? Oh wait…
Pioli needs to leave this team ASAP, you cannot condition players to a stiff system of football when football has transitioned to a fluid movement kind of sport, that the more that movement the better the play and possibly of something good. Call it what you like, Pioli is part of what’s dragging this team down and incase you don’t notice we are getting the mediocre version of Leao and Theo and so many players in this team, when a real catch comes you’d see them explode.
I know, I know people always get sacked in real life when they surpass expectations….
This might be the dumbest statement I’ve read in a long time. SO mediocre is how you would describe Leao and Theo’s performance the last 2 seasons? You should stop watching football because clearly you don’t know what you are seeing.
No one should bash poili please In the sense that Charles was not ready for Milan at the moment so he needs to go elsewhere and rediscover his form trust me if he had stayed this season it will be the same thing
CDK does not fit in Milan system. Its as simple as that. Why cant people understand that?
He does fit Atalanta system.
If pioli were to change the system to bring the best out of CDK then Leao would not be able to perform. And then people would b!tch about how pioli cant play Leao right… Not to meniton 352 has never been Milan style anyway
What system are you talking about here? Cus there’s no system in the first place, we didn’t make Top 4 all things been equal, if you think we are playing football then…
If Pioli had unlocked CDK the RW and AM would have been firing and a little pressure would be off Leao’s shoulders.
no system. do you even hear yourself?
this isnt the farmers league you have at weekends
The lone striker system.
Exactly… I don’t understand when people mention that. I have not seen any kind of system or a teamwork past season. Just individual games and some luck.
If you dont understand football that doesnt mean some of us dont see what is happening on the pitch and what the coach is trying to do with the players..
obviously finishing 6th then 2nd then 1st and 4th are all products of luck
So ADLI too doesn’t fit the system? Rethink coach no trophy to show
That is nonsense bro. Pep don’t really like using strikes. At Man city last few season the situation of no striker really affect pep team and for that he when for Halaand and that doesn’t affect Kevin or Ikey Bernardo they all still show cased their talent winning all 4 Trophy in season.
Pioli is not a good coach zalatan help him all the.
CDK should been use in his right position and unkey is ability first before bringing him back to your midfield role.
Pioli as no system if you care to know.
He picks system from team that beat his team and trying to use it. CDK is a fine player And Lucas is a better player
you’re right my man. Agrueo and gabriel Jesus are not strikers.. They are center backs.
And you are also right. Pioli is not a good coach. If he was any good Milan would have 3 triplets by now.
I’ve watched both Brighton games and I’ll admit, I didn’t know half their squad considering their recent big money sales. But, damn do they play such attractive, free-flowing football.
My point is we have better players, so there is no excuse for the manager to not get the best out of this squad. Good luck Pioli, you and your lover Krunic’s Milan careers depend on it.
And best of luck this season CDK, Atalanta has a solid squad, but we’re still going to beat them!
I’d suggest having to integrate 10 brand new players most of whom have never played in the league is a massive excuse.
We are returning 8 starters….
8 starters? Who are they?
What does ‘returning” mean?
Your username should never have left the club….another tragedy of the transfer system….
Wow, you two are very smart. Mike, Theo, Thiaw, Tomori, Calabria, Krunic, Giroud, Leao. 8 of our starters from last season are returning and starting again this season as of now. Is that confusing still?
Hey, I genuinely ask a question out of curiosity, no intention on debating you. Be polite when answering.
The starter of last season was Bennacer and Tonali, not Krunic. I’m not sure if Calabria will keep being starter, maybe Kalulu can claim his place.
Don’t start this nonsense.
The media are the ones primarily responsible for the state of modern football by endlessly pushing transfers (no doubt spurred on by agents).
The media then piles on pressure when players inevitably struggle to adapt to new clubs.
The vast majority of the thousands of transfers each window in the top 5 leagues end in failure – as in the player doesn’t recreate the same or better form at their new club.
How many times have we seen strikers reach the dreaded 10?
They arrive at a new club and don’t score in the first 10 games and it’s all downhill from there.
Scoring in that first 10 games is the difference between success and failure.
The fact is nobody had a clue about this someone guy and we still don’t.
But the media do not get to say “I told you so”. Nobody does. It’s a mess.
It is not the same to play at Ac Milan in front 70 000 spectators who expect Milan win serie a and in average serie a club where people enjoy watching football not expecting anything.
Milan should have young players, but young and strong players who can achieve.
We can’t expect results with only young players who are going to upgrade they play year by year, or they aren’t like in Charles situation at Milan.
Milan must create stronger squad year after the squad gain more revenue.
Adi got very few chances. Thiaw only got the playing time due to the injury problems in January ’23. CDK was never used to play in his position. Vrancks was never used after his mistake against Roma in Jan ’23. Was it Maldini’s fault that Pioli didn’t integrate the summer signings?
CDK went to Atalanta last week and Gasperini trusted him and gave him more than 40 mins.
Why Pioli always says players need time to adapt?
We played Chuk around 30 mil and why he is in the bench today??
We made too many changes this season and I have no confidence in this team now. I hope 100% that I am wrong.
Chuk will be ready in December if Pioli follows his old plans.
But he can’t be good!.. that would mean Maldini wasn’t that bad… and that cardinale, furlani, and moncada aren’t special??? Oh nooooo! Watch him be successful under a proper coach.
Am not a fan of pioli from the begining with his poor profiles before joining milan,milan nearly sack him just before the covid-19 before ibrahimovic arrival in january 2020 save his ass up till today,pioli is’nt a good coach,and he doesnt learn from past mistakes,many coaches will field their new signings for their first game but pioli will say the new signings are not ready,he will bench them for 2 to 3 months,sometimes if pioli got the lineup right,his substitutions will be horrible which will eventually damaged the game,this is due to inability to read the game and study each players performances,i will never credit pioli for milan the scudetto season but individual talents of those young players in which ibrahimovic and maldini played a huge role,am very sure that this season is his last because i see milan struggling this season,maldini made two error, 1. He renewed pioli contract, 2. He sell kerkez .. Pioli isnt a good coach that can manage and develop young talent like coach de zerbi and gasperini
Pretty simple, the pressure is off.
He get MoTM? I thought he got a goal but played poorly based on the comments at yesterday article.
So you comment, but didn’t actually watch the match? Lol
That is why I did not make any comment regarding his performance at the match, I only made comment relating to what went wrong with him at Milan.
Besides, why should I waste my time to watch match not involving Milan? I am not a fan of Atalanta or CdK.
He was close to score 3, he came on and made a immediate impact
The question I will keep asking pioli fanatics is what has he ever won or achieved before covodwhen Ibrahimovic came to Milan? NOTHING AND NOTHING! and that solve the problems – at florentina, Lazio, Intermilan as far as I could remember he was nothing short of failure! So we shouldn’t expect any miracle from a dead dog! Milan will eventually sack him.
Its not entirely pioli’s fault
But i think his teammate didnt help him enough
And pioli make it worse with give him a little playing time
It’s not about playing time, it’s about playing position. He has always been second striker who drift to wide area, not player who play centrally as attacking midfielder.
What nonsense is that bro. Pep doesn’t really like using strikes. At Man city last few season the situation of no striker really affect pep team and for that he when for Halaand and that doesn’t affect Kevin or Ikey Bernardo they all still show cased their talent winning all 4 Trophy in season.
Pioli is not a good coach zalatan help him all the.
CDK should been use in his right position and unkey is ability first before bringing him back to your midfield role.
Pioli as no system if you care to know.
He picks system from team that beat his team and trying to use it. CDK is a fine player And Lucas is a better player
Pls don’t score in our match. It’s nothing personal, just business, mate.. 🙁
He is welcome to score own goals
Memang Pioli aja yang Goblok…
Dude played 45mins, got motm? Lol
Wish I had recorded the game
Well, it is true. He was the best player in second half. Almost scored right at the beginning of second half. Then hit the crossbar. Then had a shot saved by the goalkeeper who sent the ball to the crossbar again. Then scored. What else do you want? But the fact is, CDK is good for the Atalanta system with two strikers, with him falling to the right and sometimes center. He is not well-adapted to Milan’s system of only one striker. Good luck to him at Atalanta but he doesn’t belong at Milan.
I managed to get a look at an extended highlights clip. Lol wtf. Dude had missed a headed sitter and one off the cross bar and set up the second goal with his movements. He went to the left drawing like all the defenders over so it opened up the right totally free. Wtf was I seeing haha . I’m glad he did well and vs a decent team too. Hope he continues
Our formation caters to a target striker indeed. He’s a support striker it seems. Not sure why we bought him when his best attributes didn’t fit our style
PIOLO will be sacked soon
If this transfer was the other way around, CDK “would not be ready yet”
We should all be happy that CDK does well (except against us) – the haters should be happy as the better he does the more likely his option gets picked up and we get some $$ back. Those who didn’t want to see him leave should also be happy in the event Atalanta doesn’t pick up the option – CDK could return a better player.
It’s funny the haters rooting for CDK to fail so that they can save face and not say Maldini was perhaps right about him – even tho it was NOT JUST a Maldini decision to sign him (poor Moncada) LOL. Oh the irony. Too bad too many are too dense to see it although right in front of their faces.
Good fortune CDK – too bad Pioli couldn’t figure out how best to use you – could have been fun.