Charles de Kettleri’s lightning career: The club’s 100-game golden boy | Jupiler Pro League

It was a murky Wednesday night in Boring. On 25 September 2019, 18-year-old Charles de Kettleri will make his debut for Club Brugge in a cup match against amateur club Frank Borens. However, the first appearance of the talented attacker, and then the unknown nobleman, passes almost silently. Top scorers Percy Tau and David O’Keerick – remember them? – He asked for attention that evening.

Less than a month later, De Ketelaere is truly in the spotlight for the first time. Suddenly, young Philippe Clement fell to the base in the Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain as a substitute for Rodformer. Blauw-Zwart loses the match 0-5, but then De Ketelaere rejoices. “Playing for Jan Bridle: I dreamed about it for a long time. And when it happens in the Champions League, it is doubly cool. I may not be able to sleep right away.”

The first of many. In the cup semi-finals, de Kitleri scored his first goal for Brugge against Zolte Wargem. Immediately the target that makes blue and black in the final. “It’s a great moment, it’s the best of my young career,” he smiled afterwards. “My childhood dream is real.” A few weeks later, De Ketelaere also scored his first league goal in the main match against Racing Genk.

The golden letter moment is in the history books of Brugge. In the Champions League match against Zenit Saint Petersburg, de Kitleuri made a climax by scoring the winning goal in the final stage. “I’ve been working for matches like this my whole life. And it turns out to be simply amazing.”

A few weeks later, de Kitleri also scored the goal in the second leg against the Russians. In the final group duel against Lazio, there were only a few centimeters left before the blond striker wrote history again. In the penultimate minute he hit the bar – no place in the club’s last 16.

Sometimes the second is better than the first. Charles de Ketelaere will put a second Belgian national title on his heels in May 2021. The party was initially still modest due to prematurely halted competition and his limited contributions, but now De Ketelaere is enjoying it to the fullest. Watch this hilarious interview with (drunken) Goldcrest and coach Philip Clement.

After all the praise in Belgium, De Ketelaere also fascinates Europe. In the club’s latest campaign in the Champions League, CDK shows itself against superpowers such as Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and RB Leipzig.

“He’s played four good games out of six,” our analyst Eddie Snelders praised afterwards. “Especially because the match at City will stay with me. Despite the force majeure, some of the top defenders kept talking on their own.”

Scouts from the major European clubs note his name in their brochure, the market value of De Ketelaere – meanwhile the Red Devil – is on the rise.

Hundreds of matches have passed. Thursday night, De Kitleary will play his jubilee game for FC Brugge against Ohio Leuven – capping it (of course) with a goal. De Ketelaere only had to leave Marc Degryse behind as the youngest Blue and Black player with 100 matches on the counter. His stats: 20 goals and 18 assists.

How many will follow?