Yunus Musah believes that his first season with AC Milan was going very well until he suffered an injury setback, while he was full of praise for his compatriot Christian Pulisic.
Musah and Pulisic both arrived at the club last summer from Valencia and Chelsea respectively, and though there was no silverware for them to celebrate it was a useful season of adaptation.
In fact, the winger is a very strong candidate not just for the best newcomer at Milan but also the player of the season in general after an outstanding debut campaign in Serie A.
The ex-Chelsea man finished his season with 12 goals and 8 assists (15 goals, 11 assists in all competitions) and made the right wing position his own, while Musah never really nailed down a starting spot but was used in many positions.
As relayed by ESPN, Musah did a press conference while with the USMNT ahead of their Copa América campaign and he spoke about his first season at Milan as well as his relationship with Pulisic.
What has it been like playing with Pulisic?
“I’ve gotten to connect with Christian a lot over the past year, spending a lot of time with him this season on and off the field. It’s been great to connect, because I didn’t get the chance to do it much today at camp, so it’s been nice to do that the whole year.
“On the field, he’s grown so much playing on the right-wing Being so effective this season in scoring goals and assists, he’s been the best attacker on our team.
“The manager has given him confidence and had faith in him, it was a mutual thing, and the confidence the manager gave him was reflected on the field.”
How did your first season at Milan go?
“My season went really well in the beginning until December when I got a little injury. I played a lot of games in the league and Champions League so that was really great, so that’s when you expect things will go like that for the whole season. But things happen and you have to adjust.
“Towards the end of the season I started being involved in some important games again, Europa League and the derby. It’s been a good season, I was always there pushing and staying around the team. It’s been a good first season.”
The USA face Colombia and Brazil in friendlies before group games against Bolívia, Uruguay and Panama. How are you feeling heading into them?
“Colombia is a complicated rival. Every game they play with a lot of intensity. They are very physical, especially their defence.
“I think they have a lot of talent in the attack also, like Luis Díaz, so this game will help us a lot in the preparations. We are facing a really good opponent and they will get the best version of us.
“Testing ourselves against the best is something that is really important for us because we are only going to get better when playing against the best. Before Copa América it’s great to test ourselves and see what we need to work on. And also try to win these games and get momentum.”
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Musah needs time and he started to show more promise as time went on.