AC Milan must hope former USMNT star is wrong in Pulisic assessment

It did not take long for Christian Pulisic to win over AC Milan fans following his 2023 arrival from Premier League giants Chelsea. He opened his goal account on debut against Bologna, before making it two in two when locking horns with Torino.

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The United States international ended his debut campaign at San Siro with a personal-best return of 15 efforts to his name. That bar was raised to 17 last season as the American forward remained on an impressive upward trajectory.

Questions are, however, being asked of how long Pulisic will be sticking around in Italy. A contract offer that has been on the table for several months remains unsigned.

Ambitious performer

An ambitious performer, Pulisic understandably wants to play at the highest possible level. He has been left disappointed at seeing Champions League winner odds side with 10/3 favorites Arsenal, La Liga heavyweights Real Madrid, and arch-rivals Inter in 2025-26.

That European title was captured when on the books of Chelsea, with the plan being to earn favor in Champions League betting tips again as another continental crown is chased down. Milan must prove that they can help ‘Captain America’ along that path.

Pulisic appears happy and settled in Milan, with golf pro girlfriend Alexa Melton paying regular visits to Italy when not hitting the fairways in her day job, and has offered no indication – in public at least – that another change of scenery is being considered.

The Rossoneri are understandably desperate to keep him on their books. It is rare that Serie A rookies settle so quickly and accept the responsibility of driving such an illustrious club forward.

Pulisic deserves huge credit for taking on that role and quite literally running with it. When clear of injury, he has shown once again this season how important he is to the collective cause.

It is, however, impossible to ignore the noise being generated by a stalling of extension talks. There is one easy way to bring that discussion to a close, but there is no telling if or when a pen will be picked up.

For now, speculation continues to rage when it comes to Pulisic’s plans. Fellow countryman and former USMNT goalkeeper Brad Friedel has suggested that there are two reasons for no deal being done.

The first of those is said to be “you are not happy with the contract”, while the second is “you are keeping your options open”. Friedel has pointed out that “if you are happy with the numbers, you sign the contract”.

Pledge allegiance

It is difficult to argue against that logic. If Pulisic was truly convinced that he was in the best possible place for his long-term future, then surely he would have committed by now.

Asking questions of Milan is, however, no bad thing – providing the right answers are delivered. Maybe he is just biding his time, keeping everybody guessing before revealing to the world what he knew all along – that he is Milanese at heart.

The Rossoneri must continue to believe that will be the case, with Pulisic proving Friedel and any other doubters wrong as he pledges allegiance to the club that have helped to turn him into a global superstar.