Charles De Ketelaere is just one step away from joining Atalanta, according to a report. The attacking midfielder has been linked with several clubs this summer but it seems a decision has been made.
De Ketelaere didn’t have a successful first season with Milan and as a result, the Rossoneri opened up to a sale already at the beginning of the summer. Following the sale of Rasmus Hojlund to Man Utd, Atalanta entered the race.
According to Daniele Longo, contacts between Milan and Atalanta took place earlier and were decisive in accelerating the negotiations. The formula of the operation will be a loan, most likely with an option to buy although the journalist didn’t mention that.
MilanNews reported earlier this evening that it should be a paid loan with an option to buy, while Atalanta also will have to pay the player’s entire salary. It remains to be seen what the exact figures will be, but the negotiations are clearly moving forward at great speed.
After featuring in the first two games of the USA tour, De Ketelaere didn’t play against Barcelona on Wednesday morning and that is perhaps an indication of his future.
Not sure he’ll get enough minutes at Atalanta…
He is not AM. Atalanta’s system is more suited to him, perhaps they can find his true position. Lets just add option to buy + buy back clause and it will be win-win-win-solution. As Bergamo is not too far and Atalanta is known for nurturing young players, CdK might approve the deal.
Atalanta dont want buy back option from ACM . They want to sell him fast as soon as they fix CDK performance just like they do to romero ( loan 1 years with option to buy ) , after 1 years they activated buy option romero and sell him to spurs one week later after activated .
Okay, but player can still reject permanent move even if the buy-out clause is activated.
Sure. I assure you that ur opinion will be added to his contract. Any other suggestions?
Add a clause so he won’t play against us. I will tell you if I have another suggestion.
He’s coming to hurt you. Watch out
Gonna become another Pasalic and our headache.
Kevin DeBruyne all over again
The similarities end at their nationality.
KDB didn’t play. How many chances did CDK have to prove he can do more than run directly into trouble?
The other difference of course is that we’re not actually selling him, so if he does turn into the player so many seem to think he is (and obviously I hope he is, why would anyone wish a young lad ill?), then we’re still in the prime seat.
We can avoid KDB situation with buy back clause.
Trusting RLC and Pulisic instead of a guy with this immense potential is just depressing, and for me a sign of incompetence.
Lmaoooo immense potential I’m laughing
CDK had a large amount of playing time.
Not enough. Not compared to what was given Leao and Diaz before they settled in.
In a year or two you’ll eat your words.
In a year he’ll still be a Milan player.
A loan, and one where presumably he won’t even have to move, is definitely good for him. Now let’s see what he’s made of.
Look, there is a chance you are right. But Leao and Diaz showed something immediately. Leao more than Diaz, but still. In other words, when they played they were “effective” to some degree. Both had goals and assists in their first season. CDK had 0. Not only did he have zero, he literally looks lost most times and when it comes to physicality is often on the losing end of shoulder to shoulder battles. In the end the club and the player are both in a tough position.
So you’d rather risk keeping a guy who’s basically offered nothing so far, and hope he magically starts performing next season, than cash in on him while we can at least get something for him and put the money toward a proven goal scorer?
How exactly are we ‘cashing in’??…. we are loaning him with option… not obligation. So if he’s great they will buy him and have a great player and if he sucks they will give him back and his value will be in the Gutter. This is an incompetent transfer every way you look at it.
It’s not a matter of enough or not. It’s because he was played in wrong position. He wasn’t an AM in Brugge, he was an SS who operate on wide area, not central area.
@zoro…. Yeh I didn’t mean this deal in particular – selling the guy for 28mil would be the best option obviously. But even with this deal they’d pay his wages which is better than us paying for them no?
Who is @zoro?
Absolutely and utterly wrong.
And eat my own words? This guy didn’t even show any flashes after having a large amount of playing time. Not even glimpses of being good. He was utterly lost on the field.
” This guy didn’t even show any flashes after having a large amount of playing time. Not even glimpses of being good. He was utterly lost on the field.”
Well… I’d say he made two or three good passes last season. That’s the amount a good player makes in one match. I think that kind of summarizes everything people need to know about him.
People wanted to sell Leao after TWO seasons here and keep Hauge instead. Tonali lost his spot to Meite and many considered it a gamble to put more money in him.
CDK hasn’t shown much but everyone says he has potential. What, Moncada wasn’t involved when we bought him?
Not only Moncada was involved in scouting phase, he was also involved in negotiation phase (revealed by the agent).
The incompetence was buying CDK in the first place.
Blame everyone but the player. He was given chance after chance, even at the expense of hurting the team. Not only has he shown nothing, but his attitude is poor. Every time something doesn’t go his way he hangs his head and sulks rather than try to recover the ball. Maybe he’s just not that good. Is anything ever the player’s fault. Good luck to him, maybe he’ll find a place where he fits in elsewhere, but it won’t be here.
It is the player’s fault. I’m in no way absolving him of blame. However, those protracted negotiations for him should have been abandoned early on with resources being directed elsewhere, to a player with a profile better suited to Serie A and who the coach actually wanted to play (didn’t seem Pioli ever really likes him). The player was not up to par and did nothing with his chances but the team shouldn’t have acquired him to begin with.
CDK more potential than Pulisic lol
The coach has no trust on him
If Gasperini plays him as a striker and he blows up for them, Pioli will have some explaining to do for using him out of position.
He played as a striker at Brugge.
His numbers as a center forward are 49 games, 16 goals, 12 assists
Second striker, 8 games, 3 g, 1a
Attacking midfielder, 44 games (most of them at Milan), 1g, 4a.
He is not a midfielder, he is not a 10, he is not a winger. He is a forward/striker.
He came in a new country, new league, new huge club and the coach used him out of position where he was like a fish out of water, and the bad performances along with the pressure of the high price tag and high expectations shot his confidence.
Even Maldini have said that CDK should play as a striker.
“Commentator Daniele Adani revealed during a segment on Rai Sport that he has spoken to Maldini about De Ketelaere and his development so far.
“Maldini told me that Charles is very strong, a respectable boy and that they believe in him. There is great trust on the part of Milan, take the examples of Tonali and Leao. HE SAID HE LIKES TO PLAY STRIKER. He has incredible values, he is a boy who has just arrived at San Siro and must be accompanied,” he said.”
Pioli never once tried him up front, instead running 36 y old Giroud into the ground every 3 days while keeping CDK on the bench or playing behind Brahim.
True re Pioli if this is what happens. I think Pioli will be on a short leash this season regardless. He’s shown other tactical weaknesses this past season. If the team is slow out of the gate he will use all of the new arrivals as an excuse “that they’re not gelling”. While it’s possible, if not likely, that cohesion will be a problem early, I don’t think the club will have a lot of patience next season.
A little correction, his heat map shows he played at both flanks instead of central area, which means despite what was written on paper, he was actually playing as SS instead of CF.
Pioli need striker that muscular , strong in aerial duel, physical strong. CDK weak on that as CF , but in atalanta gasperini use him as SS so maybe he can revive his career there and atalanta can sell him 50-70m euro if he success in atalanta
I actually think that the new 433 formation will suit him as a CF. With prolific wingers and no AM, a mobile striker is more suitable than a pure CF like Giroud.
I hope a bit that Pioli notices this and at least try him as CF.
Those are still horrible numbers for a striker in a weak league, a great scorer should at least have double that.
Man forget about this loser already!
CDK has not impressed anyone, so let’s leave Pioli to do his job. At least, he has done well so far over the years. Though not tactically perfect with the players we had before, but, I’m hoping for better things now. Wish CDK the best wherever he goes.
Switching teams will not suddenly make a player good enough for the league. This isn’t a form issue, or nerves, etc. He just isn’t that good.
Best case scenario for Milan is Atalanta turns him into a reliable bench player but not good enough to pay the purchase price. He’s young enough that Milan could benefit off having him as a reliable sub.
Under atalanta, maybe cdk can turn into hojlund
Nah. Another Pasalic / Pessina, he might be. Hojlund performed great on national level too with Denmark (senior team). While CdK.. He couldn’t even deliver on the U21 level. So it’s not only in a club level that he failed to deliver.
He didn’t show even a glimpse of anything. He’s just not a good player. If he cared about Milan, he would have worked harder and smarter. Not just give up and have a poor attitude.
Honestly I think it’s best we parted ways. I’m all for giving people another chance or a second season but the difference between him and others is that he showed absolutely nothing to being a good fit at milan. Apart from his play his off the ball movement was lazy and his attitude was poor, never seemded determined. If he leaves and does well then good for him but he just wasn’t the right guy for us
Its sad
I dont know
But i had feeling we’re gonna miss him
If a team like Atalanta interested on him it must be they see something that we didn’t see on him
Just like Chelsea on KDB n Salah
We did see. He just didn’t deliver. For whatever kinds of reasons.
Gonna be interesting when we come back to this article one year from now and see if the commenters here would still stand of what they said here.
That’s if they still keep their username.
Personally, I think it’s just unfortunate that he didn’t manage to settle AT ALL here. Whether it was the position, formation or the pressure or even his own mentality, I don’t know, something just isn’t clicking. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
I really hope he could kickstart his career in Atalanta, and back to us a better and stronger player? Though again, I think even if he performed at Atalanta, he would not be returning to us. Atalanta would be quick to activate the option, turning him into profits and probably sell him to some EPL big fish. (Please have a resale clause inserted, Atalanta knows how to fleece). It would be a catastrophe if he still doesn’t perform at Atalanta and turn into yet another Caldara. That’s the worst case scenario. It’s a make-or-break season for him personally too.
I remember caldara failed in his loan journey 1,5 years in atalanta, he come back to us with low value ( now only 2m euro in transfermarkt at age 29) . Well if CDK fail in his loan, atalanta will return CDK with low value , if CDK success then atalanta fast activate option buy and sell him 50-70m euro to EPL club . Lets hope this CDK success scoring goal with atalanta ( except vs AC Milan ) to avoid another caldara case
Those saying he didn’t show anything. He left the only place he ever played his entire career, from living with his mom to by himself in a foreign country. He will prove everyone that doubted him wrong. He will be exactly what we sre missing. He will score 10 goals and get 5 assists for Atalanta if he plays regularly. Watch him explode next year, mark my words. All the critics will wish he stayed with us and was given a chance upfront.
They have one of the best scouting networks in all of Italy and development records.
We better have a buy back clause or else it will be the worst decision we ever made to let him go.
“He will prove everyone that doubted him wrong. He will be exactly what we sre missing. He will score 10 goals and get 5 assists for Atalanta if he plays regularly. Watch him explode next year, mark my words. All the critics will wish he stayed with us and was given a chance upfront. ”
Even if he scored 20 goals for Atalanta doesn’t mean he would have scored more than 2 goals in the Rossoneri shirt. He didn’t fit into the team and CLEARLY lacked the will to prove the critics wrong. He’s not a player for any bigger club because he lacks the mental strength. That’s why Atalanta is the perfect club for him if he were to succeed in Italy.
remember paqueta?
Paqueta is still an average player. He’s no better than Diaz. Most of the young players that have left Milan in recent years haven’t gone on to become major starts. You probably have to go back to Aubamayang.
Yeah or Andre Silva, I was a big fan of him in Porto and was really hyped when he was signed. However, he never turned out to be that bang striker even Ronaldo endorsed. He’s an ok striker but nothing near world class.