Christian Pulisic did not get the October international window this year. FIFA folded that window into September, so the winger missed the chance to line up for the US, having been involved in friendlies against Ecuador and Australia a year earlier. Instead, on Sunday his pre-match music was O Generosa, the Serie A anthem, which he observed with a soft smile.
The setting fits a complicated spell at Milan. In three-plus seasons with the club, Pulisic has produced 43 goals and 28 assists in 138 appearances, yet he has won just one trophy since arriving in July 2023 – a 2025 Supercoppa Italia held in Saudi Arabia. As Mark Twain described Italy on his first visit, it has been a vast museum of magnificence and misery.
His fourth season with Milan has not started smoothly. A lower-leg microfracture suffered against Belgium at the World Cup this summer kept him off Ruben Amorim’s teamsheet, and he only made his first league start in mid-September. He began Sunday’s visit to Sassuolo in his usual role as the right half-space winger beneath Gonçalo Ramos.
Pulisic still draws plenty of attention. Mid-table Sassuolo were more willing to let the ball reach Diego Moreira than Pulisic, and the American’s touches tended to attract additional defensive bodies. As opponents converged whenever he entered the final third, he often cycled possession to fellow US international Yunus Musah, trailing behind on the right side of midfield.
He dropped into the defensive half regularly in search of creating numerical advantages, part of a relatively free-roaming deployment, and led Milan players with 5.3km covered in the first half, though his industry created little. He was still a key part of the buildup to Milan’s only goal of the day, playing the pass before Luka Modrić’s assist before offering the Croat a helpful decoy run. But by the 77th minute his sole shot had been blocked and his only created chance was stifled by the goalkeeper before Samuel Chukwueze could fashion a dangerous shot. Pulisic has managed either a goal or an assist in just four of his 22 most recent Serie A appearances.
Having turned 28 last month, he is in the next, veteran phase of his career. Teams expect an attacker nearing 30 to be prolific, and a player who is steady if unspectacular can fall down the depth chart when a younger, more dynamic alternative emerges. With a quarter-hour left against Sassuolo, Amorim turned to one: Pulisic off, Alpha Cissè in.
Since arriving from Hellas Verona this summer, the 19-year-old Cissè has been a bright spot for Milan. He was lauded by Amorim early in the season and started as Pulisic recovered from his World Cup injury. In just 242 league minutes, Cissè has scored twice; Pulisic, now up to 190 minutes under Amorim, has one. “I love Cissè. I love Cissè,” Amorim crooned in late August.
That is not to say everything is against Pulisic. This week Gazzetta dello Sport reported that he is one of three key players the club hopes to renew early in the Amorim era, and he has history to fall back on, having led Milan with 17 goals in all competitions last season. “I can only say that I am very happy at Milan right now and for the near future as well,” Pulisic said at a San Siro meet-and-greet during the window, flanked by a wall of shirts bearing his name. “So, yeah, I’m not thinking about the contract renewal but I am very happy here. I want to stay at Milan.”
Cissè’s rising presence mirrors Pulisic’s new reality with his national team. Mauricio Pochettino opened the next era by selecting 13 top prospects – but not Pulisic, who had recently recovered from injury – and gave debuts to several teenage attackers hungry to work into the fold. Cavan Sullivan validated the hype with an audacious opener against Mexico, while others, such as wingers Mathis Albert and new Crystal Palace signing Zavier Gozo, began what they hope will be long careers representing the US.
Pulisic has struggled on international duty under Pochettino, scoring just once since the start of 2025, in the tune-up friendly against Senegal, and his mostly poor performances at the World Cup hardly reinforced his standing with the Argentinian, who declined to directly address his situation during the recent international window. With Pulisic absent, Pochettino used his usual left-wing spot to shoehorn in both of his chief playmakers, Gio Reyna and Malik Tillman. Folarin Balogun, meanwhile, weathered the more normal kinds of pressure that come with being the team’s chief goalscorer at the World Cup, bagging three goals in 316 minutes.
It is far too soon to write Pulisic off. He covers considerable ground, and his more decisive touches can generate threats, though he too often appears caught in two minds about his best course of action. After years of being cast by Milan, and especially by the US, as an attacking focal point, he may be more dangerous as an auxiliary option with a lower touch volume. Internationally, his rising teammates could afford him a lower-pressure role, and given his past form at Milan he could still slot in at right-wing while making Sullivan a useful alternative from the bench. His entire career had been framed in the context of a home World Cup, and perhaps being freed from that years-long pressure can enable him to rediscover his best form, to Milan’s benefit as well as his national team’s. But with this summer’s World Cup gone and his performances leaving something to be desired, what remains is to wait and watch who Pulisic is, and will be, as a player.