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AC Milan suffered a surprising defeat in the Serie A on Sunday. The Rossoneri were beaten 2-1 by mid-engine Torino. Charles De Ketelaere came in, but again cannot convince.
Vincent Van Genechten
Things have not been going great for the Red Devil in recent weeks. Competitor Brahim Diaz showed himself and was preferred on ‘CDK’ in recent matches. He did get his chance against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, but without success. De Ketelaere was allowed to come in against Torino, but again he didn’t show much.
It gave the Belgian talent another poor 5/10 in La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Encouraging first minutes by De Ketelaere. He looked for the ball and tried to be dangerous twice. But in time, he disappeared again. He only gave thirteen passes and was good for just one dribble. Result: zero threat towards Torino.”
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The pink sports newspaper once again took iconic Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi from under the dust to analyze the defeat of Milan and the performance of De Ketelaere.
“At the moment Charles is a confused boy,” said the Italian. “But you have to be patient with him. He is currently afraid, afraid to play football. When he comes on the field, he does so with the fear of having to show himself. I hope that De Ketelaere can show his qualities soon.”
Fabio Capello, another Italian icon, previously said the following about Milan’s record summer purchase. “I see in him a great player, with a lot of quality and insight into the game. But at the moment he is playing slower than most of his teammates. I already followed him in the past and saw De Ketelaere do fantastic things. Things he’s not doing right now because he’s shy. Okay, he’s coming back from injury, but he’s still missing something right now.”
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera believes that De Ketelaere is currently suffering from “exaggerated expectations and the unattainable comparison with Ricardo Kaka”. Plus, there’s also the fact that he “still doesn’t have a definitive tactical position and needs to get stronger physically,” it sounds like.
At Calciomercato they even speak of the “bankruptcy” of the Milan transfer market due to the lesser performance of De Ketelaere. “The numbers don’t lie, no reinforcements have made a difference so far. Starting with Charles De Ketelaere, the Rossoneri’s most expensive acquisition: fifteen appearances, 751 minutes played, one assist and zero goals.”
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