Charles De Ketelaere starts for Atalanta against his parent club Milan and director Luca Percassi assures they have the ‘patience’ to wait for his growth and development.
It kicks off at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo at 17.00 GMT.
Milan paid €36.5m plus bonuses and a 12 per cent cut of the sell-on fee to purchase De Ketelaere from Club Brugge in the summer of 2022.
When he failed to score a single goal in his time with the Rossoneri, the creative midfielder was loaned to Atalanta.
The deal was worth €3m for the one-season loan, giving Atalanta an option to make the move permanent for a further €23m plus €4m in bonuses and a 10 per cent cut of the future sale.
“We are very happy with De Ketelaere, he is a great professional, a good lad and when he played for Atalanta has always done very well,” Percassi told DAZN.
“We know from his form at Club Brugge that people expect more in terms of goals, but he is certainly a young player with great talent and we need patience with him through the growth process. Atalanta are very happy he is with the squad.”
De Ketelaere has already scored two goals and provided two assists in 16 games for Atalanta between Serie A and the Europa League.
La Dea are really struggling lately with one point from the last four Serie A games, including Monday’s 3-0 defeat to Torino.
They are forced to use Marten de Roon in defence due to injuries ruling out Jose Luis Palomino, Rafael Toloi, Gianluca Scamacca and El Bilal Toure.
There is at least some good news, as Berat Djimsiti is passed fit to start.