Atalanta forward Charles De Ketelaere is a doubt for the club's opening competitive fixtures of 2026-27 after picking up an injury in pre-season training, leaving Raffaele Palladino's side short of attacking options at precisely the moment the calendar demands most.
The timing is awkward in a way that goes beyond scheduling inconvenience. Atalanta face Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Conference League play-off first leg on August 20 — the return leg follows a week later — before the Serie A campaign opens against Sassuolo. Losing De Ketelaere to both legs of that European tie and the league opener would strip la Dea of a player who contributed three goals and five assists across 31 Serie A appearances last season, carrying an average match rating of 7.20. That is a meaningful absence, not a cosmetic one.
The situation is compounded by the separate, more serious knee injury to Kamaldeen Sulemana, who is ruled out for at least two months. Two attacking players unavailable simultaneously narrows Palladino's options in a position where depth is already being tested. Atalanta have moved in the transfer window — Rasmus Kristensen has arrived on loan from Udinese, and Ciro Gaetano has been presented — but those are defensive and midfield additions. The attacking shortage remains unaddressed in the market.
De Ketelaere, 25, enters this season carrying an AI overall rating of 73 out of 100 with a projected ceiling of 79, figures that suggest a player still ascending rather than one at his peak. His output last season — modest in goals, more productive in build-up — reflects a role that asks him to connect rather than finish. That makes him harder to replace with a straight swap; the creative function he performs is distributed across the team's structure, not simply filled by whoever starts in his position.
Atalanta finished seventh last season with 59 points from 38 matches, a record of 15 wins, 14 draws, and nine defeats. A return to European competition via the Conference League represents both an opportunity and a logistical burden, particularly when the squad enters August already depleted.
De Ketelaere's availability for the Hapoel Tel Aviv tie remains uncertain. If he misses both legs and the Sassuolo fixture, Palladino will have navigated the most congested week of the early season without one of his most technically reliable forwards. The Belgian's fitness, not the transfer window, is now Atalanta's most pressing concern.