Charles De Ketelaere, Atalanta's 25-year-old Belgian forward, was absent from Maurizio Sarri's matchday plans as la Dea edged past Hapoel Tel Aviv to qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League group phase on August 28. The decisive moment came from Gianluca Scamacca off the bench, his goal settling a tie that had been locked at 0-0 after the first leg. De Ketelaere had no part in it.
The significance is not simply one missed fixture. Atalanta have now secured European football for the season ahead, which means Sarri will be managing a congested schedule from the outset — and De Ketelaere begins that stretch without a goal or assist to his name across his one Serie A appearance so far, rated at 7.20 by the Italian press, a number that suggests competence without impact.
The UECL qualifier gave Sarri the opportunity to rotate, and he used it. Nikola Krstovic, Lazar Samardzic, and Giacomo Raspadori all featured in Tel Aviv, with Scamacca providing the decisive contribution as a substitute. De Ketelaere's absence from that selection — following confirmation ahead of the match that he had not trained sufficiently to be considered — means he has yet to register a single minute in the Conference League this season. The competition column for 2026-27 reads: one appearance, zero goals, zero assists.
Atalanta sit sixth in Serie A after one match, three points from a 2-1 win. The squad depth Sarri now has available — Scamacca, Raspadori, Krstovic all pressing for minutes alongside De Ketelaere — makes the Belgian's position less comfortable than his rating from that opening league outing might suggest. A 7.20 keeps you in the conversation; it does not guarantee you a starting place when the manager has options and a player is only just returning to full fitness.
The club's ambitions in the transfer window add another layer of complexity. Atalanta are reportedly prepared to raise their offer for Bologna winger Jonathan Rowe to €40 million, a move that would further crowd an already competitive attacking unit. Whether De Ketelaere fits into Sarri's preferred structure as a central forward, a second striker, or a wider option remains the question the Belgian must answer with performances rather than potential — his AI ceiling of 76 out of 100 against a current rating of 70 indicates room to grow, but that gap only closes on the pitch.
The Conference League draw now awaits Atalanta, and with it a clearer picture of the demands ahead. De Ketelaere needs to be part of that picture, not peripheral to it.