The narrative around Christian Pulisic going into the 2024-25 season with AC Milan was whether a coaching change would impact the U.S. men’s national team star after a career-best season in his first year in Italy.
Pulisic’s arrival at Milan in July 2023 had highlighted how important the manager was to his choice of clubs. The American attacker had played for three managers in four years at Chelsea, never truly feeling as if he was first choice for any of them. Stefano Pioli sold him on a vision for his job at Milan and Pulisic played confidently and productively under the head coach.
Then, after just one season, Pioli was gone and Paulo Fonseca was in. But it didn’t matter: Pulisic is on pace to have an even better season this year.
Now, after just seven months in charge, Fonseca is out too.
Paulo Fonseca was fired after Milan’s difficult run. (Marco Luzzani / Getty Images)
Sergio Conceicao has been named Milan’s new boss, which means Pulisic will have a third manager in less than a year. The impact on the 26-year-old remains to be seen, but the hope is that his success over the last season and a half in Milan means the American will be counted on upon his return from injury in the new year.
Pulisic played in a more central role under Fonseca this season than he did under Pioli, both figuratively and positionally. He was a critical part of Fonseca’s plans from the off, starting the first game of the season as the No. 10, and has played in a more narrow role for much of the season.
While the position has changed, the production has not. Pulisic had 15 goals and nine assists in nearly 4,000 minutes across all competitions last season under Pioli. He has eight goals and five assists in 20 games, about 1,500 minutes, so far this season.
Pulisic has been flying high at Milan — and he knows it.
“I think you have moments in your career where it feels like everything you touch goes in, and you have other times when it feels like you’re trying everything and the ball just won’t go in,” Pulisic said in the fall.
“As an attacking player, we’ve all gone through it. So, I’m just trying to live in that moment right now, when things seem to be going well and just continue like this. It’s a result of all the work I’ve put in my whole life. So it shouldn’t be a surprise. I know I have this ability and I’m just going to ride that high, I guess.”
That his success has carried over across seasons and managers at Milan should provide a bit of comfort for a player who has experienced plenty of change throughout his career. Conceicao will be Pulisic’s ninth manager across 10 club seasons. He has experienced mid-season manager changes at every stop in his career, for both club and country.
Peter Bosz for Thomas Tuchel and then Peter Stöger for Bosz at Dortmund; Tuchel for Frank Lampard and then Graham Potter for Tuchel at Chelsea; Bruce Arena for Jurgen Klinsmann, and Mauricio Pochettino for Gregg Berhalter with the U.S. men’s national team; and now Conceicao for Fonseca at Milan.
In the past, especially at Chelsea, coaching changes felt like death knells for Pulisic. As a young American with a hefty price tag, Pulisic constantly felt as if he was trying to prove his value in the Premier League. Even at times when Pulisic was on a good run of form, it felt that any one misstep would result in a benching.
Pulisic finally seemed to have earned the trust of Lampard in the 2020-21 season. He scored 13 goals with eight assists in 56 appearances under Lampard at Chelsea and enjoyed some of his best spells of form at Chelsea. But Lampard’s firing felt like an unwelcome reset button, and though many speculated he would thrive under Tuchel, he was almost immediately cast into a super-sub role.
It felt like the process to earn trust had to start all over again.
Pulisic did not get as much playing time as he would have liked under Tuchel. (Manu Fernandez / AFP via Getty Images)
Pulisic eventually worked his way into a bigger role and netted a dozen goals and nine assists under Tuchel in 71 appearances, including a goal and an assist across the Champions League semifinal games against Real Madrid in April 2021. But Pulisic started just 13 Premier League games in 2021-22 and then only eight in 2022-23 at Chelsea, a season that brought another coaching change.
Milan presented not just a new club, but a chance at feeling wanted. Pioli was the face of that change, but he would last just the one season. Now, a third coach in less than two seasons.
As Pulisic has matured, he’s learned how to cope.
“Every coach has their differences,” Pulisic said, when asked how the change from Berhalter to Pochettino impacted the U.S. men’s national team. “It’s been a good kind of reset for everyone. And I think it’s brought an environment where everyone is a bit on their toes, and especially in training sessions and meetings. Everyone is that much more focused. You obviously want to make a good first impression. You want to impress these coaches.”
The confidence shown in him by both Pioli and Fonseca have aided that. The USMNT fan base — and Pochettino — will hope that Pulisic’s consistent production in Serie A means things will be no different under Conceicao.
Since the end of the 2022 World Cup, Pulisic has been one of the few American players to truly level up. His confidence from the club level has often translated to his form with the U.S.; he has two goals and two assists across three games under Pochettino. Pochettino knows that Pulisic is the central figure in anything the U.S. does on the attacking end.
“I see a player that is going to help now and then in the future, to put the team in a place that we want,” Pochettino said during his first camp with the U.S. “He’s a fantastic player; he’s one of the best offensive players in the world” considering his form at Milan.
Now, Pulisic must show he can carry his form, and those expectations, through another coaching change.
(Top photo: Jonathan Moscrop / Getty Images)
