Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both made the switch from Chelsea to AC Milan during the 2023 summer window, and for both of them it is paying off so far.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport reports, Pulisic took advantage of the international break to win a trophy as he took a flight to Arlington, put on the United States jersey and lifted the CONCACAF Nations League as captain.
He played both matches from the first minute, stood out as he knows how and held the trophy in his hands thanks to his rebirth at Milan, the same rebirth that Ruben Loftus-Cheek has also experienced.
Pulisic in his prime
Pulisic has never had a season as good as this, given he has 12 goals and eight assists in 39 games. Nine of the goals are in the league, two in the Europa League and one in the Champions League.
The air of Milan made him a protagonist again, especially after a difficult year with Chelsea in which he got one goal and two assists in 30 games, many as a substitute.
Pioli returned his smile, placed him on the right flank and made him the star of the team. This year’s score tells of 2828 minutes played in all competitions, 1982 in Serie A. He only missed two games due to a muscle problem, then played them all.
An added curiosity: when he scores, the Rossoneri almost always win. The only defeat in a game in which he scored came against Monza, where he nevertheless produced a goal and an assist coming into the second half.
RLC rebounds
Loftus-Cheek is experiencing the same positive moment. Evidently the Italian coaches bring him luck because the last time he scored this many he was playing at Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri was on the bench, the man who placed used as a mezzala and gave him freedom.
Excellent resultsfollowed: six goals in the Premier League and four in the Europa League, which he won as a protagonist together with Giroud. RLC was 22 years old and had the world at his feet, he played in one of the strongest clubs in the world, but a cycle of injuries resulted in some harder years.
Milan brought his smile back too: nine goals and two assists in 34 games. More than 2,430 player minutes in all competitions. Loftus-Cheek is also loving the Europa League again, given he scored two goals against Rennes and another two against Slavia Prague over the two legs.
In April there will be Daniele De Rossi’s Roma. Five years ago, the Englishman scored three goals against Bate Borisov in the group stage and one against Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-final, before rupturing his Achilles tendon and missing the final against Arsenal. Fate could give him a second chance.
We finally have a RT flank capable of contributing and scoring. Yet many still argue that our transfers were terrible in the summer (Chelsea rejects talk that dominated these threds).
Both have been key transfers. Puli probably has been more consistent than RLC, but I love his physicality (remember Brahim being forced off the ball simply by breathing on him?). Both are contributing plenty.
Pulisic is a incredible success, that’s true, but it was legitimate to express doubts about a player with many injuries and who was admittedly recruited for commercial purpose. I’m not sold on Loftus-Cheek because he’s too inconsistent. Sometimes he looks like Kessié, sometimes you don’t notice he’s on the field. Maybe it’s also because our midfield is still weak.
I always wonder why it’s so hard to apply reasonableness in the discussion threads these days. Like you could say that and you’ll get a label that u didn’t like Pulisic asna signing simply because you expressed doubt about his injury history
It has a lot to do with the way social media work. The bubble effect leads to polarisation, it’s proven now. Online, suggestions lead us to content we embrace, for commercial purpose, so it strengthen our ideas and our self-confidence. And we spend most of our time online. There are a few very good documentaries about that, also The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Zuboff is a reference. But even knowing all of that, our brains are still tricked by design and algorithms haha
Pulisic has been great.
RLC on the other hand have scored goals but he is mostly invisible during games. Even the heat map show that. Look at his heat map at Chelsea last season. He is everywhere in the midfield, especially around the center, offensively and defensively.
So again, Milan has the midfielders that can play well defensively, but they get different instructions from the genius on the sidelines.