AC Milan are ready to reward Christian Pulisic for his talismanic performances with a new contract, according to a report.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, Pulisic scored his 10th league goal of the season in Sunday afternoon\s 2-0 win away against Venezia, and he will soon sign a renewal to extend the deadline of his contract.
The USA international is one of the recent success stories in terms of Milan’s recruitment, and now they hope he will be a pillar for the future as well as the present. For this reason, the winger will be tied to Milan until 2029 and everything has already been sorted out.
While the club have put forward a renewal with a pay cut for Theo Hernandez due to sub-par performances, the exact opposite is true for Pulisic. With 16 goals he is the top scorer across all competitions, and he has 50 goal contributions since joining in the summer of 2023.
That is a milestone that in the last two seasons has only been reached by two other Serie A players: Ademola Lookman (50 for him too) and Lautaro Martinez (ahead with 54), two strikers. Along with Tijjani Reijnders he was the certainty of the season, for which the club will reward him.
The new deal will run until 2029 and a salary increase from €4m net per year to €5m. The current contract expires in the summer of 2027, with the option in favour of the club for a further annual extension.
The renewal until 2029 also serves as a sign of recognition for a player who expressed himself at his best at Milan. He paid off the wait and the expense of 2023: the ex-Chelsea man cost €20m, today he is worth more than double.
He has been the only glimmer of hope alongside Tijjanni and I hope he stays
Perfect profile for all the Europa League we’ll playing
Pretty optimistic to assume we will win against Bologna in Coppa Italia
Yea. There is at least 50% chance Bologna will win.
16/11,15/12 ,14/10 constitute a world class player w 175 million buyout making 7M net. 15/10,16/9(and counting) Europa League player not worth 5M net. Help me understand
Keep making runs Puli! At some point we will find players who are looking for you rather than dribbling the ball directly into the CBs
Most spot on and important comment here!
Exactly. He makes the runs and gets wide open. Sits there, waits, gets the ball about 15% of the time.
I think it’s an issue of the “cool kids” clique of Theo and Leao. They own the locker room, I’m guessing, and create a culture of “everything good goes through us.”
One reason to let Theo go is to break up that clique and allow Tijji and Puli to step more into the light.
scoring and assists aside Pulisic is a professional – mature and a student of the game. An example tof the younger players on the squad on how to approach the game. During the match you frequently see him telling teammates where to position themselves and he always “runs” his ass off helping on defense. Could easily score 20+ goals next year. May never be “the best player on the team.” but consistently “plays the best” match after match. The probability of AC Milan winning improves when he plays.
There is an interesting moment in the Venezia game just before his score when Pulisic has just started his run and he turns to point to Jiminez where to put the pass to Fofana when it is clear that he has the ensuing play worked out in his head. It’s not an extremely complex play but still, that kind of forward thinking is what Milan’s usual haphazard attack need.
Bill Gates FTW
Milan had a great team goal against Inter early this season where it was clear that Puli was the chess master, directing Calabria to run through and drag a defender, then slotting to Leao making a diagonal run in that space in the box, near-post adjacent, who then passes across for the tap-in at far post.
So, Puli is clearly one of the guys who works the play through in his head and it’s a big part of what makes him valuable. But you need the attackers to collectively see what’s happening and collectively act. Puli’s direction vs Inter doesn’t amount to anything if Leao doesn’t see the opportunity open up the same way and then Tammy doesn’t see the far post run develop. That kind of timing and collective mind takes playing together enough to see what the other player sees on a multi-move goal.
If Milan does not qualify for any European football, how are they going to balance the books? Sell somebody? Could they sell Puli if somebody comes with 60m in hand? Or Tiji? I’m quite happy to see the 3-4-2-1 more – it’s a good fit for these personnel. But does that mean we have a surplus midfielder or two? Or an extra winger/10?
Then again, we’re probably changing system again. So who knows who we need.