Resurgence and regrets – Milan come face to face with De Ketelaere again

AC Milan face Atalanta at San Siro tonight and they will welcome Charles De Ketelaere back, who has really come out his shell since making the move in the summer.

Corriere della Sera (via PianetaMilan) recall how De Ketelaere last year failed to establish himself under Stefano Pioli and thus decided to move to Atalanta on loan with an option to buy, where Gian Piero Gasperini is getting the best out of him.

Atalanta are probably the worst possible opponent at the moment for Milan because they arrive off the back of six consecutive victories and this season they have already beaten the Rossoneri twice.

A third consecutive defeat tonight would open a new state of crisis for Pioli’s team, an alarm which paradoxically could be triggered by De Ketelaere who is a player that Milan own.

They will not own him for much longer though because in June Atalanta will buy him permanently for €22m, after Milan paid €35m for him in 2022.

“He wasn’t rubbish,” Pioli said yesterday about De Ketelaere in the press conference on the eve of the game, and there must be some regrets about the way things went.

The Belgian had a very difficult first year in Italy and he has to take some responsibility for that. However, Milan certainly made mistakes in how they handled him and they perhaps gave up on him too early as well.

CDK will try to leave his mark at San Siro tonight, having not scored there yet. Between the league and cup competitions he has already scored 10 times, so Milan will have to pay close attention.