Earlier this week, we covered how Charles De Ketelaere was struggling at Milan, and how Brahim Diaz was seen as having won the battle for a starting spot at the Serie A club.
This came after the Belgian decided to turn down the chance to sign for Leeds United, who chased him for a large chunk of the summer when he was back at Club Brugge.
The Elland Road side were prepared to offer the Jupiler Pro League more money than their Italian counterparts, but it quickly became clear the midfielder favoured a move to San Siro, which he eventually got.
This left Leeds looking for someone else in the role, which they never got, but they might take some solace in the fact it isn’t exactly working out for the player in Milan.
We say this because De Ketelaere was given yet another chance by Stefano Pioli against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, but he simply wasn’t able to take it.
He was subbed off seven minutes into the second half, and Gazzetta dello Sport voted him the worst man on the pitch for Milan, and stating ‘here, CDK is anxious, perhaps in crisis’.
The Belgium international ‘seems to be hiding, he doesn’t look for the ball, he has a chance and shoots badly’.
This might have been an issue if he had been played out of position, for example, but that wasn’t even the case here.
Leeds, down their end, are struggling a bit at the moment, and probably could do with someone like De Ketelaere, but not in this form.
Maybe he should have taken the chance to go to Elland Road? Time will tell, definitely, but he currently appears to be one of the weak links in Pioli’s plans these days.
