"The Devil cannot do without his quality": Christian Pulisic at AC Milan

Age 19 (on loan to Derby County) he played ~3600 minutes
Age 20 he played ~3700 minutes
Age 21 he played ~4300 minutes
Age 22 he played ~3700 minutes

And you can add another ~400 minutes each year for national team play on top of those numbers.

Furthermore he played in roles that required a lot of running and physical challenges.

I don't think it's been proven that a ton of minutes at a young age = injuries, but it seems to me like it happens pretty often.

 

I suppose if your goal is to dramatically reduce Pulisic's minutes to keep him healthy it would be exciting.

We already saw that post FA Cup final vs Arsenal injury that Pulisic does not have the athleticism to be a good player in the EPL. It's the league in the world where attackers get the least time and space and he can't win 1v1 battles with EPL defenders so he is reduced to a lot of backpassing.

Milan of course will want the most money they can get, but Pulisic should avoid the EPL. If he has to move I would want his agent to reach out to Atletico Madrid.

 

That's an odd take for a guy who was successful enough to have a CL medal and was a 70M sale

 

Yeah, as exciting as a move to a club like Arsenal would be, my hopes would instantly start crashing once he started landing on the injured list. His body cannot hold up in the Prem, at least not as consistent starter. He would be a great option off the bench tho, but I imagine he is not looking to accept that role yet

 

If this is real, he'd likely be taking the place of Trossard who has 31 appearances and 1,849 minutes this season. That's plenty of work for Pulisic, who can't be a 4,000-minute-per-season kind of guy anyway.

 

wait what?!... the FA final that he scored in proves he doesn't have the athleticism? People need to stop with this false "Pulisic can't handle the EPL" narrative. CP get's hurt in whatever league he plays in and it's frustrating but it has zero to do with the EPL vs Serie A. Such a bad take.

 

https://sempremilan.com/leao-full-pulisic-saelemaekers-doubts-pisa

Pulisic is a doubt for the next match vs Pisa on Friday. He is still dealing with iliopsoas bursitis. Concerning that Milan has all these days in between matches, and he still can't get fit.
At this point, I just hope he heals up and is able to finish the last 2.5 months of the season with some additional G/A here and there.
For the first part of the season (2025) he was in the discussion for Serie A player of the year and was on fire. Now, I am not sure he will top his stats from last season. But as long as Milan finish well and he is ready for the WC, I am good.

 

You know he's still getting injured in this supposedly soft Serie A league.

Even if he goes to La Liga, I am sure his injury patterns is not going to just magically disappear.

 

THIS ^^^

He was injured at Dortmund
He was injured at Chelsea
He was injured AC Milan

 

Here are Pulisic's rankings (on a per 90 basis u.o.n.) vs. EPL players for his four seasons at Chelsea. His fourth season he didn't play enough to rank but I'm giving his numbers as if he did.

Expected Goals+ Assists -pks: 1st season: 9th, 2nd season: 32nd, 3rd season: 45th, 4th season: tie-89th.

Goal creating actions: 1st season: 5th, 2nd season: 47th, 3rd season: 66th, 4th season: 75th

Goal creating actions through successful take-ons (total, not per 90) 1st season 4, 4th. 2nd season: 0, tied-73rd, 3rd season: 0 tied-78th, 4th season: 0, tied-89th.

Shot creating actions: 1st season: 12th, 2nd season: 40th, 3rd season: 110th, 4th season: 92nd.

Pulisic was never the same player after the injury in the FA Cup final vs. Arsenal (where prior to the injury he was the best player in the game) the last game of his first season at Chelsea. He permanently lost the incredible burst of acceleration that used to let him go by any defender. EPL wide defenders would just get tight to him and he had no way to beat them and CB's could just stand their ground and step in front of them because he couldn't go around them.

Also, I think Pulisic mentally needs to be a starter or he starts pressing (as he did in his 3rd season at Chelsea) and his finishing suffers.

 

That decline from the first season to subsequent seasons is insane!!

 

Why are you comparing Puli's scoring stats from when he was a starting attacking midfielder to when he was a reserve wing back under the crazy German? I mean, if you want to say he wasn't scoring when he wasn't regularly playing up front, I don't think you need bring out the stats.

 

Also, the hamstring against Arsenal was in his first season. In his second season, he was critical in the champions league run, including star performances against Real Madrid in the semis. His dip at the end with Chelsea was some stop and start due to small nagging injuries here and there, along with horrible mismanagement.

 

I do not think Pulisic’s Chelsea stint was the disaster some make it out to be. I’m especially proud of his contributions during the lockdown season and the UCL season.

I do stand by my assertion that he is not built for the Prem. But something tells me he will get an offer eventually (if there’s not one already) and he will want another crack at the league and will take it.

With all the talk of an extension the past year, it is somewhat odd there has been no news in that front, which may be a hint at where Pulisic’s mind is. I know it’s been mentioned he is holding out until Milan confirm UCL Qualification, but he could also have other ideas about his future, regardless.

 

With all do respect for the EPL, and even though I may be a little biased, I retain that the Serie A is still a very strong league.

Maybe they haven’t won the Champions League in a while but other than the great Milan teams of the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s, not too many Italian teams win those trophies historically.

I also don’t think winning a Euro trophy represents how strong a league or a club is.

Maybe the EPL and La Liga win in UEFA but weekly league play in the Serie A is still a force to be reckoned with.

If Pulisic continues to do well at Milan , I can easily see him staying with the club another 3 more years or until he turns 30.

 

I really dislike the epl. My fellow Americans obsession with English soccer is so concerning

 

I think the EPL more regularly offers games like Liverpool vs. Man City this past weekend. Pure entertainment, the kind that could convert a “regular” sports fan into a soccer fan. Serie A is a strong league but lacks a lot of that extra oomph, be it superstar moments, recent UCL titles, production quality, etc.

Nothing wrong with staying at Milan if the offer is good though, for the most part it’s been a great fit for Pulisic.

 

I for one, would be happy if he stayed at Milan longer, preferably if he help lead the team to a major trophy/Scudetto. In fact, if I were allowed to play make-believe, I think a fun trajectory would be a couple more seasons in Milan, then a final European season or two back at Dortmund, then the inevitable closing chapters in MLS.

But I highly doubt that timeline will happen that way.

 

I also think the fascination with the EPL stems from American and Canadian fans associating or are more comfortable with the English language just as most Latin Americans prefer La Liga.

Since the advent of the EPL in 1992 , coupled with the influx of top foreign investors , players and sponsors , of course EPL will win out.

It’s also a very fast and dynamic circuit.

If you look at the tactics of teams though on a weekly basis, the Serie A still has a quality to its clubs that I don’t think can be matched anywhere else.

There are no more great Italian defenders as there once were but I think most teams in Italy still employ defenses that are very sophisticated when comparing them to other teams and leagues across Europe.

 

but but...they invented the game!!!

 

See Americans on social media with their new arsenal jerseys, they retired the old man united ones. Anyway, screaming " get inn " so embarrassing. Even American soccer ultras or whatever you want to call them copy the English chants. It don't sound the same though without the accents. I could go on and on

 

Serie A more than any league takes pride on structured play which results in some ugly games. We've seen this very much with Milan the last month or so (though I do think a lot of that is trying to force play through Rafa)

 

My sense is (based on nothing more than my opinion), IF Pulisic ever returns to the EPL, it’s because he wants to change the perception among mostly non-Americans that he “flopped” in the supposed Best League in the World. And if he’s paid bucket loads of money, that doesn’t hurt either…

 

That is a great/honorable sentiment, but that would be a losing battle he can't win. It is almost impossible to please the mob within most Prem supporter groups, especially in the top tier teams.

Case in point: Anyone unbiased with any knowledge of the game would tell you that he was not a "flop" duing his time there. He had some great matches/goals, massively helped the team qualify for UCL during lockdown, a UCL they won the next season (with help from him, MOTM in Semis, RM goal/assist, etc) - but of course had quite a few injury spells his last couple seasons there, mixed in with some meh performances and a deluge of signings by the club fighting for minutes. but there have been far bigger disappointments than he. YET, many CFC fans probably love to throw out the flop term for any number of reasons, just because.

So unless he turns into prime Salah in his next Prem attempt, most people are going to hold onto their pre-determined beliefs.

But yes, I could totally see him taking the $$$ if it's offered. I just foresee a tough road ahead. He's got the talent, but his sustainability is the question.

 

I want to see him back in the EPL with Arsenal for 2 reasons:

1 - Get PAID, he's probably going to be on his last big Euro contract before heading back to the US to join MLS

2 - Beat the sh*t out of CFC and win the EPL trophy. It seems Arsenal is more than capable of doing so in recent years (much more so than ManU or CFC). And with Arteta in charge, I don't think that's going to change any time soon.