Tom De Mul and Yama Sharifi are De Ketelaere's agents. They played important roles in the negotiations between AC Milan and Club Brugge as the talks were really difficult. Both were interviewed by HLN.be and they said the following, as relayed by Milanlive.it:
De Mul: " Milan followed him for a year or two."
Sharifi: "Longer Tom, already from the youth."
De Mul: "Yes, but the first contacts date back to two years ago. At the time, they thought Charles was a great talent, but they wanted a player who could get there right away. They took the time to assess how good he could get. In the meantime, Maldini and Massara have asked us all kinds of questions. What kind of person is he? What is this guy like?"
Sharifi: “Not just them, right?"
De Mul: "Exactly, many clubs have been informed. West Ham, Newcastle."
Sharifi: "Arsenal."
De Mul: "Those clubs didn't push 100%. Arsenal took on Gabriel Jesus, who had already proved himself in the Premier League. Barcelona also followed De Ketelaere for a long time, but we thought it was not the right move."
Sharifi: "Leeds were very concrete."
De Mul: "Charles also noticed it. They absolutely wanted him, he would play there every week. Jesse March is a first-rate coach."
Sharifi: "At one point he said he'd like to hear from another club."
De Mul: "To understand if Leeds was the right step, he wanted to be able to make a comparison. We phoned Milan: 'If you really want you have to insist now. And push well, not halfway.' Maldini was still busy with his contract, but then he called him. Charles also had a good conversation with Pioli and was completely convinced. Except that Leeds offered 40 million and Milan had a limit. However, Brugge would not have sold it for twenty million, so Milan had to relaunch the offer."
Sharifi: "We insisted a little, showing our aggressive side. At a certain point the agreement seemed dead."
De Mul: "After the meeting in Belgium, the clubs didn't want to talk to each other anymore."
Sharifi: "Then we went to Lugano. Two superpowers confronted each other and it became a real battle. The outside world cannot understand how difficult it was to resolve this situation. Tom and I had to decide the strategy. We have done everything to make the transfer go through."
