Yunus Musah spoke to ESPN exclusively. He discussed several topics, including how Ruben Amorim Amorim first reached out to him via text message prior to preseason to tell him he wanted him to stay with Milan and would be an important part of his plans during the upcoming campaign.
"I thought maybe [he was] just saying this like other managers just to keep you there at the club. But actually as preseason was going on, I saw that I was playing a lot, he was talking to me a lot, and it was true. And I started the season, played a lot of minutes, a lot of starts. And then now coming to national team as well, being back here. So it's been a great start to the season, having managers believe in me again. As a player, that's what you want really, managers believing in you and letting you play."
On his start of the season with AC Milan and the USMNT:
"It felt like something I deserve from the start of the season that I've had, so I think it's well deserved on my part. I've been performing really well for a big club, Milan, and I think it makes sense and I'm happy to be back."
Yunus Musah on his loan experience at Atalanta last season:
"There was a good midfield [in Atalanta], so I learned a lot of things; how to position myself, playing with just two in the middle as well, constantly being available," Musah said. "So little things I tweaked in my game, like my positioning and my body shape. Sometimes knowing what areas to take risks," he told ESPN.
He added:
"Not going through the World Cup was tough, and as the season went on, I could sense it because I wasn't coming into any camps and I wasn't playing at Atalanta as well. So yeah, it looked like it was going to be a summer holiday for me."
The AC Milan American midfielder Yunus Musah went on vacation with this wife and daughter to Ghana and Zanzibar. He enjoyed his time there. But, he didn't watch a single minute of the World Cup.
"Literally I wasn't on social media. I wasn't on my phone much. I was literally just outside with the locals in Ghana and Zanzibar enjoying my summer. And then the last week of my holiday, I started training a bit to get ready for preseason in Milan."
Musah added this is how he usually spends his offseason, so unplugging wasn't a struggle...
"I always like to disconnect. So that's me every summer," he said.
In the summer of 2025, Musah asked UMSNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino to leave him off the Gold Cup roster. His daughter, Yumna, had just been born, and he was also coming off a difficult season at Milan, where his playing time dropped sharply towards the end.
"The reason was that it was a long season ended. The last few months were really intense and tough with the fans and the whole situation at the club. I just had my daughter as well. So yeah, I wanted to prioritize staying with the family. Very important moments in the growth of my child. [It's a] pivotal time that I didn't want to miss out on because the Gold Cup was going to be a very long camp and I wasn't going to get pretty much any break after that and then straight into the season again and stuff."
