Spotted: Andrea Radrizzani watches Charles De Ketelaere in the flesh at World Cup amid Leeds United speculation
Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani was in Qatar to watch Belgium’s World Cup defeat to Morocco on Sunday.
It seems Radrizzani has used the winter break as a chance to jet out to Qatar and do some scouting, with the Leeds chief attending Sunday’s Group F match between Belgium and Morocco.
Radrizzani would have been particularly interested in the final 15 minutes of the match when Roberto Martinez introduced Charles De Ketelaere to the fray. Radrizzani posted a video to Twitter showing his view of the World Cup clash.
The 21-year-old striker snubbed Yorkshire in favour of Milan in the summer, but he’s struggled to settle in at the Serie A side and Leeds have since “reached out” to the Belgian youngster regarding a January move, according to CBS journalist Ben Jacobs.
De Ketelaere failed to make much of an impact as Belgium fell to a 2-0 defeat, but it did give Radrizzani a good look at a potential January signing.
Not worth the risk
Leeds were desperate for a striker in the summer, and De Ketelaere made up one of the names on the club’s shortlist. At the time, he seemed like one of the best options for the club, but his form at AC Milan is seriously concerning.
De Ketelaere was coming off the back of a season where he scored 14 in 39 games for Club Brugge, but he’s failed to score a single goal for Milan in his 18 appearances since his summer move.
He looks like a shadow of his former self and his lack of confidence has transferred over to his performances in the national team, where he again looked toothless.
Milan won’t want to sell him so early after acquiring him, and even if they did they wouldn’t want to drop lower than the £30million they spent on him. Leeds simply can’t afford to take such a big risk on such an out-of-form player.
Jesse Marsch needs a confident and consistent goalscorer for the second half of the season and De Ketelaere clearly doesn’t tick those boxes.
Better and cheaper options will emerge over January – Leeds should give up their pursuit of De Ketelaere immediately.
In other Leeds United news, Rasmus Kristensen is given a terrible rating from newspapers after his horror World Cup display against France.