At 26 years old, Christian Pulisic has racked up an impressive footballing career. He won the DFB-Pokal with Borussia Dortmund before trading Germany for England and joining Chelsea, where he won the UEFA Champions League title. And since making the move to Milan in 2023, he's gone from a backup player at Chelsea to one of the most instrumental figures in the Rossoneri's attack.
Pulisic emerged as a bright spot in an otherwise dour 2023/24 season, scoring 15 goals and 11 assists in 50 appearances. Having worn the #11 previously worn by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pulisic quickly justified his €22 million price tag by returning to top form. It's why he was voted as the best signing of the Serie A season and nominated for the Serie A Midfielder of the Season award with Hakan Calhanoglu and Teun Koopmeiners, as well as being named to the Team of the Season.
His sophomore season, meanwhile, would see Pulisic pick up where he left off by leading the charge under new manager Paulo Fonseca. When Fonseca was sacked midway through the campaign, Pulisic stepped up and delivered by scoring the equalizer and created a critical game-winning pass to Rafael Leão in an eventual 3–2 comeback victory against Inter Milan in the Supercoppa Italiana.
After leading Milan to their first trophy in four years, Pulisic continued to excel in the final third, becoming the first American since Clint Dempsey to score double figures in consecutive seasons in back-to-back years. Similarly to Chris Mavinga, Pulisic thrived at timing his runs to perfection and making his way into the box without being noticed, easing his way past defenders before getting off a powerful shot.
He enjoyed his highest scoring season and finished as the club's top scorer with 17 goals and 12 assists in 50 appearances, with only Romelu Lukaku registering more assists in Serie A, and he was named to the Serie A Team of the Season once again. It seemed that Pulisic would continue his momentum in the Gold Cup, the last chance the USA had to play competitive football before hosting the World Cup next summer.
Unlike other players like Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah, who did not play due to their commitments at the FIFA Club World Cup, or other players like Antonee Robinson, who missed out due to injury, Pulisic skipped the event entirely, citing fatigue. Even though he wasn't going to be playing any European football with Milan in 2025/26, he decided his body needed to recover. For a player who had been the team's franchise player for the past decade, and who had worn the captain's armband with regularity, it seemed to be a slap in the fanbase to the USMNT fanbase.
"He’s just got to do more," stated ex-Premier League striker Gordon Watson of Pulisic. "He's got the opportunity to be one of the better players in European football, but he's now taken away any excuses. I agree, so many players were playing such long seasons last year on the back of international competition, whether it be Copa America, whether it be European Championships, but now you're going into a World Cup year, so it's put up, or shut up. He often shows glimpses of what basically the World Cup's gonna need next year, but then he gets injured, he's so soft. Harden up, do your job, and you might just get rewarded."
Since then, however, Pulisic has shown that a little rest goes a long way. He started the season on August 17, doubling the lead in a 2-0 win against Bari in the cup, before being kept under wraps in a 2-1 defeat to Cremonese in league play. The following week, Pulisic put the seal on a 2-0 win against Lecce by doubling their lead again, before heading back to the States and competing in friendly matches vs. South Korea and Japan, registering an assist in the latter.
Now, Pulisic will be looking to extend his hot streak against Bologna in a rematch of last year's Coppa Italia final. If Milan are to come away with a victory against Bologna, who entered the international break on the back of a 1-0 win vs. Como, they'll need Pulisic to bring his A-game.
