Who Is Charles De Ketelaere?

Charles De Ketelaere had many eyes on him in 2022, when he was playing for Club Brugge before making a €37.5m move to AC Milan.

At AC Milan, he didn't score a single goal for the club and only got one assist.

It was clearly not the right fit for him.

He took a jump to Atalanta after one season in Milan and has enjoyed his time at the club so far.

In the 2023/2024 season, he found the scoresheet more often, with 14 goals and 11 assists.

Under Raffaele Palladino tactics, he's found a system he can contribute meaningfully to the attack, and many clubs are once again interested in his potential.

In this Charles De Ketelaere scout report, we are going to look at the role he's been playing in the Raffaele Palladino Atalanta system, which positions best suit his versatile abilities, and which clubs would be a good fit for him if he were to leave, given that his contract expires in two years.

Charles De Ketelaere In The Final Third

Although he is an attacking midfielder, Charles De Ketelaere's 192cm height makes him a huge threat from set-pieces and crosses.

He makes late runs into the box to exploit this advantage.

You often see this in Atalanta games, where they look for him and Scamacca on crosses.

He is very good at finding open space to run into.

He knows where to make his runs in the box and has excellent movement, but a constant issue I've seen in his game is his ball-striking ability.

In the image below, he sees his striker holding the ball up, ready to lay it off for him.

He swings his leg too early; his leg is already cocked back, but the ball still has some distance to reach his foot when he takes the swing, leaving a very weak hit.

Something I've often seen in his game this season is a lack of conviction in his strikes; it feels as though he's striking the ball because he has to, not because he wants to.

One of the few downsides to his game in the final third is that it needs more practice.

As we mentioned before, he is intelligent in his attacking movement.

He understands the space he wants to get into and makes an effort to get there.

One of the issues he has is his dribbling to get to those areas he wants, which we will take a look at later, but in terms of understanding space and where to be, he's top-notch.

Unlike a lot of midfielders, he isn't hyper-focused on just playing out wide.

Here, he has two options: play out wide, which you would see most of the time in a football match, or make the daring effort to play centrally.

His passing is bold in the final third; he's not typically picking the obvious, simple pass but looking for the bold option.

When dribbling in the final third, he often hesitates.

In his passing, he doesn't have much hesitation, but in the dribble, there's a slight problem.

He is ready to take on the defender 1v1 here.

This is a spot where you can often see him drifting to the right and looking to penetrate the box, but he often loses his step on the dribble in these positions.

We see the aftermath of that hesitation: he takes a cut left and ruins the momentum he had while carrying the ball into the box.

Now, the attacking sequence is virtually over because of his misstep on the dribble and hesitation.

He knows he wanted the space in behind, but hesitated out wide.

Charles De Ketelaere In Transition

Now I want to look at how he plays in midfield, but looking to transition the team into an attacking phase.

When he drifts out wide in the 10, he's looking to lay off the ball to the wide player and make a run in behind, dragging players out wide from his central position, creating an opportunity for his teammate out wide to drive centrally into that now open space.

Similarly, on the left, he wants the space behind the two defenders in that triangle to be utilised.

Either by taking on the dribble himself or by laying off the pass again out wide here, then using the opportunity to run in behind and get into a dangerous position for the attack.

His reading of the game and his teammates is very good, and much better than a striker, but not as much better than regular 10s, which is why a second striker role fits him best.

The same way he sees his wing-back making the run forward, he can see those same runs in strikers, which is why I strongly believe he needs to move higher up the pitch.

Because of his attacking midfielder role under Raffaele Palladino, he's able to move into spaces like these near the '6' or '8' to help build up, and he has the capability to be in this area, but I'm not sure it's ideal.

When he drops this deep, it is because the team is under pressure and needs external help to smooth things over, and that external help is the attacking midfielder.