Christian Pulisic will be tasked with leading AC Milan again on Sunday versus Sassuolo with Rafael Leao absent, while the club are thinking about a renewal.
As Corriere della Sera report, Leao’s injury partially ruined the team’s celebrations after claiming back top spot on Monday night in the freezing Turin weather, but thankfully scans have shown it is less serious than expected.
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This means he will most likely miss the home game against Sassuolo on Sunday lunchtime, but a couple of days later he will board the plane that will take Milan to Saudi Arabia to defend the Supercoppa Italiana they won in January.
Since then, everything has changed, from the coach to the position in the table. It is a ‘new Milan’, and the comeback victory over the Granata was further proof of this. The presence of champions like Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot has raised the level, and the Frenchman’s goal inspired belief.
Pulisic to the rescue – reward imminent?
Pulisic’s quality did the rest. Captain America’s goal fever continued, after a literal one. The night before he had a 39-degree temperature but felt better in the morning so he took a minibus to Turin, to join the team.
He entered the field in the 66th minute and by the 77th he had turned the game on its head with a brace. His numbers this season are beyond impressive: nine appearances and nine goals across the league and cups, one every 61 minutes.
His contract expires in June 2027, and while Milan have an option to extend it until 2028, negotiations have been underway for a few months to extend his contract until 2030. The crux of the matter is his salary, which needs to be raised from the current €4m net to €5m. He deserves it all.
Above all, given his performances and the track record of other players who have ultimately left for free, it’s better to plan ahead. With Mike Maignan, the wait-and-see strategy didn’t pay off, and in June the Rossoneri risk losing him for free.
It can’t happen again with the American. He’s the new Diavolo’s extra weapon, as they have serious problems in attack that will need to be resolved in the transfer market. First, though, Pulisic must be locked down.
Raise his salary to 8. He is the best player in milan right now
He has proven time and time again that he deserves the raise, if not an even higher one (but maybe give that as an incentive to raise it later on). Regardless, we need to keep him at Milan, even if we need to organise a GoFundMe to help pay his first year increase hahahahaha
He made it pretty clear that he is not interested in the money. He wants to know what the clubs plans and ambitions are for the next 3-5 years and how he can play a part in it. With that being said, 5 million is low considering his value to the club.
This. It’s not about the money and I think 5M€ would actually be enough for him. Should he get more? Perhaps in a way but from the club’s/fan’s perspective the smaller the salary the better. Why? More money on other players. Getting better players than nkunkus and estepiñans etc.
He’s clearly the most important player for us and one of the best players in the whole league. Just get it done.
Pulisic has become an absolutely clutch player at Milan. And clutch players outside of Italy make a lot more than 5mil a season.
Pulisic might be waiting to get noticed by bigger clubs to see if there’s any interest. I would too. This career is finite – can’t blame him for wanting to try himself at a bigger club.
$5 million per year is an insult. He was making $8 million a year at Chelsea and literally sacrificed $4 million a year just to come to Milan in the first place. He deserves to go back to the 8 million he was making. If you’re talking about renewing Raphaël Leao at 8 million it’s an insult to pay Christian only $5 million. That $5 million number they’ve been discussing for well over a year now and he’s proven to be even more valuable than he was then. However, I think he’s smart to wait because if we stick with a 3-5–2 formation Rafael Leão gets one of the last two striker spots, and Pulisic will be fighting it out with two other guys for the last spot. That would be enough to make Christian leave the team. I hate to say it, but I don’t think Pulisic and Leao can coexist if we go out and get a classic number nine striker. Christian is the best false nine second striker in Italy and quite honestly it’s more suited for that role than layout, but they both can’t exist in this formation.
He came from Chelsea to relaunch his career to get back on track, which is fair to say he has. The salary increase has to reflect his contributions. 5mil is a joke. Even mike is asking for 8mil.
“$5 million per year is an insult. He was making $8 million a year at Chelsea and literally sacrificed $4 million a year just to come to Milan in the first place. ”
LOL!!!!! NO. Get your effing facts straight! 😀 😀 😀
It took 5 seconds to verify this as BS. His biggest net salary including bonuses in his career was 5.8M€ in Chelsea and he’s now getting 4.0M€. No matter how I calculate the difference I don’t get the 4M€ per year sacrifice you mentioned. 😀
And getting 5M€ per season isn’t an insult. Only a 12-year-old kid with zero understanding of the real world would think so. 🙂
He probably deserves 7 mil, but I think he would take 6 to stay here. He’s the best player in the league, Don’t insult him with 5.
im surprised that every time there is an article about Pulisic people just automatically assume that he will be left out of the starting eleven if we have a new center forward.
its like we MUST always play 3-5-2 formation and like Allegri never fielded the team with a different formation even in the 5 months that he is in charge.
well the way i see it is that Allegri is not stupid. if every one can see the worth of Pulisic, and to be honest you dont even need to know about football to understand this, then why people assume that Allegri will drop him just to stick to 3-5-2.
he said repeatedly that he plays in the way that suits better to the players that he has.
if a top-level center forward arrives who needs to be in the starting eleven then im sure Allegri will find a way to field all his weapons.
probably a switch to 3-4-2-1 or even another solution.
but i certainly do not share the view that Pulisic will be dropped out of the starting eleven by Allegri’s choice
“im surprised that every time there is an article about Pulisic people just automatically assume that he will be left out of the starting eleven if we have a new center forward.
its like we MUST always play 3-5-2 formation and like Allegri never fielded the team with a different formation even in the 5 months that he is in charge.”
Just shows how stupid some people are. They think the coaches are obliged to keep the same formation from start to finish and they can’t make any changes. 🙂
Agree with all the above – Origi was on 5mil gross so let’s let that sink in….
Y’all are stupid if you think money is his motivation.
He took a pay cut from Chelsea to move here.
What he needs is a solid project that will allow him to win things. THAT is what is most important to Christian.
Not some increased paycheque.
But but but… 5M€ is “an insult” and Pulisic will leave crying because they insulted him with such a “lowballin’ offer”. LOL.
I’m not sure whether it’s funny as h3ll or just plain sad how some people think. 🙂
Extending Pulisic’s contract is a multi-step process. The first step is for management to commit to the project by completing the following:
1. re-sign Magic Mike or get a top tier replacement
2. sign a proven striker
3. sign a proven CB
After the above are completed Pulisic will sign an extension. He wants to win trophies with AC Milan and the only reason for him not to extend his contract is if management does not commit to the same goal.
It was perhaps debatable last year whether Leao or Puli was more valuable to the team. This year, there’s no debate. Leao is a great player but Pulisic is the most valuable player to this team.
He should get the $8m that Leao gets, anything less is not only insulting but will be bad for the locker room. Fair is fair, and everyone needs to see Puli’s importance.
Remember what Pulisic said over the summer too: In order for him to stay he needs to see the commitment of the club overall to putting together a winning project. He wants to win league titles and have a realistic shot at another Champions League title at some point. This was his own way of showing leadership — he’s not just interested in the fat paycheck (although he does want and deserve it), he wants an elite, winning club to be part of.
Sign Maignan, Lewandowski, and Joe Gomez. And then offer Pulisic 8m. He’ll sign through 2030, and we’ll win the scudetto this year.
You’re welcome.
“anything less is not only insulting but will be bad for the locker room. ”
Why would it be an insult? Or more importantly why would it be bad for the locker room? Because Pulisic is a person who feels money is everything? He’d be so effing jealous of Leao’s salary that he’d become obsessed with it and refuse to pass the ball to him?
Some people sure can write amusing stories. 😀
100% on point. He’ll stay with the right moves by management. Magic Mike is probably not too far off on that thinking. If he thought this team was competing for Champions League, it would be a strong motivator for him to stay. Then as said, get a true #9 and CB
People here seem to be obsessed with the salaries and what they think isn’t high enough is an INSULT. Absolutely ridiculous. And comparing Milan players’ net salaries with some EPL players’ gross salaries makes things even funnier.
Oh well… At least these stories combine well with my popcorn. 😀 😀 😀