When Domenico Tedesco took over from Roberto Martinez as the head coach of the Belgian national team, one suspects that the former RB Leipzig boss would have been quick to check out the accommodation in the city of Milan.
Three of his Rote Duivels players, after all, are currently under contract at the San Siro. Including two who have been tipped to form a major part of the post-’Golden Generation’ era; Charles de Ketelaere and Aster Vranckx.
And Tedesco will be praying, with the European Championships just 18 months away, that things pick up soon for the Milan’s Belgian trio in their new San Siro home. Divock Origi has scored just twice since joining from Liverpool. That is two more than the £30 million De Ketelaere has managed.
Vranckx, meanwhile, is still awaiting his first Serie A start six months after joining on a £12 million loan-to-buy deal from Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg.
Aster Vranckx struggling at AC Milan
“He has excellent qualities, and he’s fitting in well,” Rossoneri coach Stefano Pioli tells TMW of his seldom-seen midfielder. “He’ll have the space I give him.”
Pioli’s praise, however, has not translated into regular opportunities.
An inexperienced 20-year-old, no matter how talented, was always going to find it hard to break into Milan’s Scudetto-winning engine room. But Vranckx, when arriving on deadline day last summer, surely would have expected more than 72 minutes of Serie A action between September 1st and late-February.
Particularly after choosing Milan over Premier League duo Everton and Nottingham Forest (The Athletic). Neither the Toffees nor Forest were capable of offering Champions League football or a tilt at the title, but regular minutes would certainly be easier to come by than they proving to be in Milan.
“I hope to play more and more,” Vranckx told DAZN in mid-January.
Five weeks after making those comments, the one-time Anderlecht youngster has played just four more minutes in red-and-black.
He is not the first Milan signing to endure a sluggish first season at San Siro, of course. Rafael Leao and Sandro Tonali took their time before establishing themselves belatedly. But, with both Origi and De Ketelaere labelled ‘flops’ by the Italian press over the last few days, Vranckx may in danger of drifting towards similarly dangerous waters.
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