After such a bright start to the season, things have taken a turn for Americans in Europe – and not for the better. Christian Pulisic has dealt with injuries, and is in and out of form while also in Serie A, Tim Weah and Weston McKennie are performing, but Juventus are playing well below their potential – and were summarily beaten in the Champions League.
Ricardo Pepi is done for the season after picking up a knee injury. Malik Tillman, too, is unlikely to return before May. There are two ways of looking at this. The first is to dive into pessimism and snobbery. Checkmate, Americans, the Europeans were right. The second is the more sensible and, frankly, factual.
It has, in reality, been a good season for Americans abroad. The players around them at some of the European clubs simply haven’t been up to it. But look a little deeper, further down the tables and out of Serie A, and there remain reasons for excitement.
Josh Sargent has found form since returning from a muscle injury for Norwich. Brenden Aaronson has chugged along for Leeds. He will be crucial if his side are to grab three points against Sheffield in a top of the table clash on Monday.
The Celtic duo of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty performed admirably in Europe. Piece it all together, and there’s still a lot to play for here, with plenty of storylines to keep an eye on – especially with an international window less than a month away.
If you believed some reports coming out of Italy this week, Pulisic wants out of AC Milan. Pulisic was underwhelming in both legs of Milan’s Champions League knockout phase tie with Feyenoord. He was subbed early in both, and the speculation began. But no sooner had the nothing reports gone out, Pulisic released a statement reaffirming his happiness at San Siro.
And although he has lost some of his early season consistency, the American remains the most important player to this side. An optimist might say, in fact, that the Joao Felix signing this winter made sense – if only to take some of the load off Pulisic, who has picked up a couple of injuries in recent months. Either way, he’s still the go-to guy for this team. And in an exclusive interview with GOAL, he confirmed that he’s enjoying his run at Milan, even as he’s at times had to play the roles of both hero and villain.
AC Milan manager Sergio Conceicao also denounced rumors of a rift with Pulisic, saying Friday that the USMNT star is not ready for 90 minutes due to a muscle issue.
AC Milan manager Sergio Conceicao also denounced rumors of a rift with Pulisic, saying Friday that the USMNT star is not ready for 90 minutes due to a muscle issue.
“I keep reading lies and lies in the press,” Conceicao said. “I don’t like this. I am in front of you every three or four days. If you have any doubts I’ll tell you, I am upfront. Lies hurt, players today are active in social media.”
But all-round play notwithstanding, Milan are still struggling. Champions League football simply has to be the goal every year. And with 14 games to play, they are five points back of fourth place. That’s not an unassailable gap by any means, but it’s hard to back such a maddeningly inconsistent side to go on the kind of run required to close it.
Torino, on Saturday, is the kind of annoying away game Milan has to win to find that form. A midtable side who aren’t particularly good in either box, but play the kind of frustrating back five to give Pulisic and Milan nightmares, it will not be an easy game. In theory, this has 0-0 written all over it. In practice, things simply have to be different.
