Charles De Ketelaere gave his first interview as a Milan player, describing himself as a player and promising to give everything, every time.
Yesterday CDK became the most expensive signing of the Maldini and Massara era, as he put pen to paper on a five-year deal, which costs Milan €32m + bonuses that go to Club Brugge.
There’s plenty of exciting around for the 21-year-old, who today had his first training session with the squad.
On Tuesday, the Belgian sat down his first interview as a Rossoneri with MilanTV:
On becoming a Milan player: “It’s something you kind of dream of if you become a football player, I always had the dream to be a football player and I could have never imagined to play for a club like Milan and now it is becoming reality, so just a very proud moment.”
On contacts with Massara and Maldini: “It was Ricky and Paolo and they just told me that they had confidence in me and they wanted to bring me to Milan. I spoke with them and my agents were in contact with them already since the beginning of the year, and then when the transfer market opens it’s always a little bit busy. And then I had conversations with the board here and also with the Coach. I only wanted to come to Milan. Then it took some time but I’m happy to just be here.”
On the negotiations: “I feel I’m a guy who is mostly really calm but I was a little bit overwhelmed, yeah… didn’t know, yeah… they say that you cannot imagine until you are here or until you feel it, or until you see the fans, until you feel the real warmth of this Club and the passion, it’s different and it’s transmitted.”
On telling his family about the Milan move: “I am someone who shares a lot with my family, so it’s not that I had to say it really because they know what’s going on in my life. They were just happy for me and they follow me in what I want, so they didn’t have like ‘you cannot do that, you have to do that’, they just follow me in what I want and then they’re also happy and that’s beautiful.”
On his characteristics as a player: “On the pitch I think I’m just a very attacking-minded player who likes to start and finish attacks, and do everything that is needed for that. I just like to run deep, to get the ball, to play beautiful passes, to score like an attacker wants. I also think I work hard when I don’t have the ball, but I like more to have the ball [smiles]. And then off the pitch I’m someone who enjoys life with his family, not to do crazy things, just normal and have a happy life and do nice things.”
On Saelemaekers and Origi: “I heard from Alexis what kind of Club this was, and with Divock I didn’t speak. But with Alexis in the national team you head stories from Milan so only good things and about the passion from the fans. And last time, when we congratulated him about winning the Scudetto, we just talked a little bit.”
On his idol from Milan’s history: “Milan’s history… it’s difficult to say because there are so, so many great players like Ronaldinho, Paolo, Kaká, but also I remember the Dutch guys – Gullit, van Basten… if I have one idol since I was younger – it’s always Cristiano Ronaldo, but from Milan all kinds of players, because when you grew up you watch these clips from then and it was such a big team – it is a big team – and I hope just to bring the big successes back to Milan and I want to help that. It’s their goal, it’s my goal, for the coming years.”
On last season’s Milan: “I watched some games, not a lot, but especially for the Derby you always sit down and you watch. Also because Alexis was playing there, I followed the scores and you see how they were moving up top and it’s great to come in a team that just won the Scudetto.”
On Italy: “What I love about the country is the food, first of all – the pasta, everything. And also the weather but that’s not so important to me. The emotion Italians have in them, if you saw also the EUROs, how passionate the fans from whatever team are, for the national team, for Milan. What I like about football is the passion and what I want to bring here is just to enjoy and play good football.”
On the jersey number 90: “Actually I got that when I was a young player, they just gave the numbers. But then I got the number and I started playing well so I continued with it because it helped me a lot.”
On a promise to the fans: “What I can promise is that I’m going to give everything in every game I play and I wear the shirt, and just hope to win prizes. The only thing I can promise is that I’m going to give everything.”
