Charles De Ketelaere could see his time at AC Milan end after just one year as an offer has arrived from Premier League side Aston Villa, a report claims.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recalls how July 2022 was the month of the soap opera that ended up seeing De Ketelaere joining Milan, beating the competition from Leeds United in England.
Now we are in July 2023 and the Belgian could be on his way out. Aston Villa is the team that could welcome De Ketelaere and guarantee Milan a return on the over €35m that they spent last summer to sign him from Club Brugge.
CDK amassed 49 appearances and 18 goals in his last season with Brugge but at Milan he failed to score a single goal in 40 games. He had a positive start including an impressive debut, but things went downhill from there.
To avoid a loss on the balance sheet an offer of €28m is needed and Aston Villa are expected to put in a bid of €25m. Milan are asking for €30m, a starting point that can allow for a halfway meeting.
If the English side decide that he is worth it, they won’t hesitate to raise their offer. Milan are not convinced De Ketelaere will have a second season like Rafael Leao and Sandro Tonali did and thus won’t resist his exit.
De Ketelaere was hoping to hit some form in America during the preseason tour but instead it is an American – Christian Pulisic – who has arrived to steal his place. When the right winger is added, Pulisic will be the No.10 and that rearranges the hierarchy.
Aston Villa’s expression of interest and possible offer is as far as any club have gone, but Milan hope that others will follow and that they can net a nice return from the sale of a player they believed in so much 12 months ago.
Ooh yeah give it to me. What a wonderful headline to be the first thing you see on this site.
Fake fan go support PSG or Newcastle.
Everyone happy about losing a player who wasnt given a chance and has huge potential + young should go support other teams. All of you are quite pleased we sold Tonali too.
Anyone who thinks Milan=Maldini like you can piss off too, disrespecting this club by associating it with just one player
I don’t understand people. With one breath they are saying we need to invest to win immediately, and the next we should wait on a guy who manages only one assist last year. I’d rather have 30m to go spend on top shelf striker than CDK, as I think most people who want Milan to challenge for trophies this year would.
It’s pretty clear that our strategy is not to invest so there is no space for fantasy anymore, we can only comment about what’s happening and that’s what we’re doing here. The actual strategy is to find gems to develop. Now it looks like if they don’t succeed in their first season, arrivederci. All our once promising young players turned key international players needed a couple seasons to develop. If they go for Balogun with the money then I’m happy but I really doubt he’s a realistic target.
So if that is indeed the strategy it must be safe to say they aren’t convinced by CDK. Given their record of finding and developing gems thus far I think it’s fair to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding CDK.
These people never fail to baffle me every day 🙃
Oh dear Maldinisti getting angry – wow this is new. Don’t know of anyone who’s happy Tonali left but he accepted the move didn’t he? Otherwise we couldn’t have sold him. I don’t know why this is so hard for you people to understand.
He was given many chances and only got worse as the season went on. Milan should jump at this chance to sell.
Too bad
He is incredible on football manager 2023
Another certified fresh fund. We could buy musah with that
No thanks better a top RW and ST and then use the remaining or so to get Dominguez
True, at this point we are just crowding the mid with quantity.
Hmm, we need 3 DM or CM. RLC, Dominguez, and Musah. Reindeers could be placed as AM should we sell CDK
This guy should be given second chance. Just as they gave leao and tonali this guy will be the best only if we have pacient on him.
It’s not like there are huge offers for him, they look desperate to get rid of him. So we already give up on a young promising talent scouted by Moncada that was with the team for less than a year since he arrived late. This management expects that every young cheap guy that Moncada finds and that we recruit will turn into Kvaratskhelia or Fernandez. How many young players need time to develop and how many young players turn into Kvara or Fernandez in only one season in this contemporary football world? No patience for Vranckx, De Ketelaere and Dest (as good as Pulisic with Team USA) but we stay on the same strategy. Reijnders, Romero and whoever they will bring for CM and RW better find their shape early.
To be honest as much as I would like him to stay and explode I don’t think he is a player that fits in tactically with the way we play
Would you rather wait to see if CDK manages more than one assist this year or go get someone like Balogun for the 9 role with his funds? Honestly.
Would you rather keep CDK and see if he manages more than one assist this season or take that 30m and go get a striker like Balogun? Honestly, which is gonna out us closer to challenging for silverware this season?
Well, I think they were patient, they gave him time but at least from what I have seen there is nothing there promissing that he will do well. The only option would be to send him somewhere on loan for this season to see if he recovers. In Milan I think the weight of the club was too much for him at this time, no doubt he will have a carrier, just not sure how good and where.
Leao and Tonali, you could clearly see they need time, with De Katelaere it’s not there.
No Vrarnxk, and specially Dest he is not even close to show anything at all. For me, I really don’t understand how is he even there. I watched him in Barca, US National Team and with us… Just doesn’t cut it, you can give him all the time in the world.
At the end in Football everyone has an opinon this is mine.
We need to move forward with clear plan and sharp precision, the rest will align. No longer have time to hope things will get better. In my opinion so far all this new way of thinking is starting to shape up andd makes sense.
Time will only tell, but what I don’t like is that everyone is so pesimistic and no matter what one does it’s bad by default. We need to believe and support, not just criticize every desission that is what true Milan fans are
Amen! Let’s support the management and hope the team actually does well instead of shutting on them at every turn.
It is not about one season for CDK . In what position you want CDK play ? He is good as false nine in brugge but pioli tactic dont need false nine. He is failed in AMF . If he failed again this season , club will suffer from huge loss , no club want to buy him even 15m euro . Big gamble , you must change whole system formation just to support CDK become false nine , which one you choose ? We compete for title or we growing CDK ?
I would give him another chance at least until January transfer window. He needs time. The impatience is ruining players.
I remenber when tonali first season at milan i was among the fans who were saying he is not worth it of being our starting xi. But season after he was one (1) of the best. So let be pacient when it come to young players.
This is just sad. It is like selling Tonali after his first (bad) season. This guy has immense potential; you have to be blind not to see that. Give him the time that Brahim got, and he will be a top, top player. Selling now is a huge strategic mistake.
I swell, if milan sell cdk i am done being a milan fan.
Hah, Ok. They gave this kid so many chances and not only did he show absolutely nothing, but he he hangs his head and pouts every time he screws up. That’s the player you are drawing your line in the sand on? See ya.
I feel sorry for him. No doubt he’s a talent and it’s only a matter of time before he shows it. Unfortunately that won’t be with Milan or rather not with Pioli and his system cause he is being misused. Paqueta and Giancarlo pattern all over it.
It’s an EPL team so why not demand £50m, they’ll definitely pay