2026 has not been Christian Pulisic’s year, at least from an AC Milan perspective. However, this could change in the upcoming weeks.
It has been a tough year for Milan generally, but a large part of that was played by Pulisic. Indeed, he took the team to the highs of a Scudetto push in the early stages of the season.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
However, in the second half of the season, he struggled. It did not go under the radar either. With every passing game where he did not contribute, the worries got louder and it was clear that he heard them. What was even clearer was his struggle with them.
Captain America returns
As Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) reports, he may have benefited from the break, though.
Indeed, he instantly broke his goal drought this summer, adding a goal and assist to his 2026 scrapbook, and whilst he is no longer the American national team’s captain, he remains ‘Captain America’.
There can be no denying his collapse in the second half of the season, but he seems to have rediscovered himself recently. With the Rossoneri, there were technical and team-related issues.
However, there were also the well-reported personal issues that he faced. For Gazzetta, though, the part of an upcoming World Cup cannot be forgotten. In fact, the pressure of this tournament for someone in Pulisic’s shoes was substantial.
So, it is clear that this has had a major impact on his season and year. Whether the arrival of the tournament will free his mind needs to be seen, but the report states that the Rossoneri are far away currently.
Funny how all it took was him getting away from Allegri to start looking great again.
I was thinking the same thing. We see articles on this site about the slump every single attacking player on Milan went through in 2026. At what point do we say “perhaps the coaching / system is the problem”?
( Monday May 25th perhaps? )
All athletes go through slumps, it is a part of the business. When ALL the attacking players hit prolonged slumps at the same time, the organization needs to start looking for a systemic problem.