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Victor Orta is back on the trail of Charles De Ketelaere and has been in contact with AC Milan over a Leeds United move, TEAMtalk reports.
The Whites spent a large portion of the summer pushing hard to sign the 21-year-old attacker from Club Brugge, but the Belgian international always wanted the Serie A champions and eventually got his wish in a £27.7million deal.
However, he has not performed to expectations so far in his time at the San Siro, so Leeds United have got in touch asking to be kept aware of any opening for an agreement, including on loan, but as yet have been rebuffed.
The latest report says: “Now sources have told TEAMtalk that Leeds remain on his trail. And we can reveal the Whites have asked to be kept informed by Milan over their intentions for the forward.
“Leeds director of football Victor Orta and first-team coach Jesse Marsch still like De Ketelaere a lot. And if there was any indication that he could be allowed to depart – even if just on a loan deal – then Leeds would be interested.”
While Milan are currently prepared to give De Ketelaere more chances to impress TEAMtalk do report that they are closing in on a loan-to-buy move for Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech, which may work in United’s favour.
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Again?
The Leeds United decision-makers are obviously huge fans of the Belgian and haven’t been put off by the frustrations of the summer.
Surely the chances of success in the short term can’t be much better, as most teams not called Chelsea don’t pull the plug on big-money moves so quickly.
If he continues to struggle for the rest of the season then maybe a loan in the summer would be an option, but that would of course depend on the Whites remaining in the Premier League.
Marsch would surely love to bring the young attacker in during the winter window, so the Ziyech wildcard leaves the door slightly ajar.
Patrick Bamford’s injury issues appear to be unending, and he has yet to score once this year, although Rodrigo and Crysencio Summerville have picked up the slack admirably of late.
Orta, Marsch and Andrea Radrizzani aren’t taking ‘no’ for an answer so the De Ketelaere pursuit looks to be one that will run and run.
In other Leeds United news, Radrizzani is facing a major £50million cost that threatens to negatively affect the January transfer capabilities.