Multi-million race on: BVB keen on Bergamo's De Ketelaere | OneFootball

Charles De Ketelaere (25) has played his way into the spotlight in Serie A. Now two top German clubs have set their sights on Atalanta Bergamo’s versatile attacking player: Bayern Munich — and Borussia Dortmund.

De Ketelaere is currently preparing for the World Cup with the Belgian national team. The Red Devils will open the tournament on June 15 with a match against Egypt. The attacker, who has 30 international caps to his name, has a good chance of being in the starting lineup.

De Ketelaere is coming off an extremely successful season. His record includes 42 appearances for La Dea, in which he scored five goals and provided seven assists. Thanks in no small part to the Belgian’s performances, the Lombardy side finished the campaign in seventh place and qualified for the UEFA Conference League playoffs.

Bergamo are not necessarily keen to let one of their key players go, according to fussballdaten.de. But Atalanta’s policy is clear: if the right offer comes in, no player is unsellable. However, anyone wanting to sign De Ketelaere will have to dig deep into their pockets. The asking price is said to be a hefty €40 to €50 million. With a long-term contract running until June 30, 2028, the Serie A club hold all the cards.

Difficult spell at Milan

BVB have De Ketelaere on their shortlist as a serious option for next season. At Borussia, they value not only the player’s qualities off the ball, but also his mental strength. The forward did not let a poor spell at AC Milan derail him. In the 2022/23 season, he made 40 appearances for the Rossoneri, though mostly as a substitute. Over that entire period, he managed just a single (!) assist.

Before the Black and Yellows submit an official bid, however, they first need to take care of some internal business. Offloading top earners is the top priority in order to create the financial room for this multi-million-euro deal.

Photo: Getty Images

At present, Atalanta Bergamo have not received any official written offer for the striker. No concrete club-to-club negotiations have begun so far either. Behind the scenes, though, things appear to be gathering pace. Initial exploratory talks are said to have already taken place with his representatives. What’s more, the striker has reportedly already given the green light and internally signaled that he can absolutely see a future for himself in the Bundesliga.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.