Christian Pulisic is perched on a bar stool in the old clubhouse overlooking the first-team training pitch at Milanello, AC Milan<\/a>\u2019s training ground.<\/p>\n He makes a hand gesture, one he didn\u2019t need the past six months living in Italy to learn. Pulisic is talking about himself as one of the \u201colder guys\u201d on the USMNT and, as he does so, he is sure to put air quotes around it.<\/p>\n Nearby is a portrait of Milan legend Paolo Maldini lifting a trophy, a player who retired in his forties. Pulisic isn\u2019t that age yet. He turned 25 shortly after joining Milan from Chelsea<\/a> in August. But as the United States get ready to host the Copa America<\/a> as a guest competing nation this summer, the first newly-expanded 32-team Club World Cup the following year and then the biggest men\u2019s World Cup finals yet, with 48 countries taking part, in 2026, he is already beginning to think about his legacy.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember watching World Cups as a kid and watching (Clint) Dempsey scoring goals in the World Cup,\u201d he says, \u201c(Landon) Donovan scoring the winning goal (against Algeria<\/a> in South Africa in 2010). It\u2019s moments like that, that stick in kids\u2019 minds and can really inspire a generation, which is what those moments did for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Pulisic, though, is hoping to provide some of his own.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a monotone zeal when he speaks. For all the curiosity about his hobbies outside of football, notably golf and chess \u2014 the board game with which Italy<\/a>\u2019s top-flight Serie A, a league renowned for its tactics and strategy, often gets compared \u2014 his focus on his own game is unflinching; his self-awareness of his influence acute.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching someone that\u2019s from where you\u2019re from and playing at the highest level and showing the world we can compete and be the best; you know, compete with the best,\u201d he explains. \u201cFor me, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. If I can inspire kids, especially back home in the U.S. but hopefully all over the world. There\u2019s nothing\u2026 there\u2019s no greater prize for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Pulisic recognises he has a platform. He is the most expensive American player of all time. He captained his country for the first time at 20 and was the first American to play in the Champions League<\/a> final. A decade since he moved to Europe, he has only played for big clubs \u2014 Borussia Dortmund<\/a>, Chelsea and now Milan. This is what, relatively speaking, makes him a veteran in football terms. Through the experience he has accumulated he hopes to emerge as a leader who is authentic to himself.<\/p>\n Publicly, he lacks the loquaciousness and affability of current national-team skipper Tyler Adams<\/a> \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m not the most vocal person,\u201d Pulisic concedes \u2014 but there are other ways to affect a group and a country.<\/p>\n To Pulisic, that means action as much as words and being an example \u201cin just doing what I do every day\u201d. It means \u201cwhen I\u2019m with the (national) team, when I\u2019m at club level, I\u2019m just continuing to show people, like, \u2018OK, he\u2019s pushing the boundaries. He\u2019s performing to a high level.\u2019 Hopefully, I can lead that way as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The player who, in a meme, was framed as the LeBron James of soccer, is quite the introvert. He is the polar opposite, for instance, of Zlatan Ibrahimovic<\/a>, the transcendent Milan icon, who has returned to Milanello very quickly after his retirement as a player to take up a new role created by Milan\u2019s owners RedBird Capital Partners<\/a> as an operating partner for the group\u2019s media and entertainment portfolio and as a senior adviser to Milan\u2019s ownership and senior management. How then does Pulisic square his self-effacing character with the expectation his profile and ability generates?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had my difficulties with it,\u201d he accepts. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that affects my day-to-day life. I think I\u2019m quite a simple guy. I\u2019m not out in public all the time, so it doesn\u2019t affect me. I\u2019m in training every day. I come home and I can relax and speak to the people close to me and the people that I love, so it\u2019s not something that bothers me in any way. It\u2019s just some getting used to and I\u2019m really grateful I have the platform to do what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Our interview takes place by the exit of the clubhouse at Milanello, where a member of Milan\u2019s backroom team sits at a desk waiting to catch the players as they leave training to sign jerseys for one of the club\u2019s commercial partners. Pulisic\u2019s shirt instantly became the best seller following his move from Chelsea for \u20ac20million (now $21.9m, \u00a317.2m).<\/p>\n There was a 75 per cent increase in the number of Milan jerseys sold compared to a standard equivalent period. In the U.S. the sales uplift was 713 per cent, and Milan shirt sales in the U.S. increased from nine per cent of the total sold to 43 per cent. Personalised Pulisic jerseys represented 45 per cent of all match jerseys sold in his first month with them, according to the club.<\/p>\n Americans are flocking to San Siro, the iconic stadium Milan share with city rivals Inter, like never before. The number is up 148 per cent on this stage last season.<\/p>\n A commercial phenomenon, Pulisic is helping Milan, and Serie A, build their profiles in North America. The club made sure to sign him in time to participate to make full use of his pull and draw fans to games against Real Madrid<\/a> at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Juventus<\/a> at MLS<\/a> side LA Galaxy<\/a>\u2019s Dignity Health Sports Park.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s just a win-win. That\u2019s an extra thing,\u201d Pulisic says of his impact off the pitch. \u201cThat\u2019s not what I focus on. I focus on the sporting aspect, performing and winning games.\u201d<\/p>\n The old clubhouse at Milanello, arguably the most bucolic training facility in European football, was, in harder financial times, rented out as a wedding venue. Pulisic and his new team are still in the honeymoon stage. \u201cI\u2019m enjoying it a lot,\u201d he smiles. \u201cI\u2019ve been given a great opportunity here.\u201d That\u2019s all he was looking for after Chelsea, where he became surplus to requirements:<\/a> \u201cA fair opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Did he feel he was no longer getting one at the London club? \u201cI\u2019m not here to talk about whether it was fair or not back then. I\u2019m just happy to be where I am now, for sure. The first couple of years (at Chelsea) were fantastic,\u201d he reflects. Pulisic was a member of their Champions League-winning squad in May 2021. \u201cThe last couple of years\u2026 I think a lot of things in the club changed. A lot of people also left this summer, got new opportunities and have done well.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of them are now at Milan, too. Pulisic followed Ruben Loftus-Cheek<\/a> to San Siro and the pair of them have reconnected with former Chelsea team-mates Fikayo Tomori<\/a> and Olivier Giroud<\/a>, who had already made the move. \u201cThat made it a lot easier,\u201d Pulisic says.<\/p>\n His debut goal against Bologna in August, a screamer from outside of the box, came from a neat one-two with striker Giroud. \u201cI know a lot of his tendencies, he knows mine. It\u2019s been great to play off him. Things like that are only going to help with the chemistry within the team and get me accustomed to a new team, a new league.\u201d<\/p>\n The same goes for Yunus Musah<\/a>, the USMNT midfielder, whom Milan signed from Spain<\/a>\u2019s Valencia<\/a> in the same transfer window they acquired Pulisic.<\/p>\n Musah was born in New York City but raised in Castelfranco Veneto near Venice and speaks fluent Italian. \u201cHe\u2019s an incredible kid,\u201d Pulisic beams. \u201cI love playing with him in the national team. It\u2019s great now to see him day-to-day. If I don\u2019t understand something, he\u2019s there to help me out. He\u2019s teaching me a bit of everything. Mostly the footballing stuff I need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n Why Christian Pulisic’s dream move to Chelsea took a turn for the worse<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pulisic\u2019s debut away to Bologna could not have gone better. In addition to scoring himself, he was instrumental to the other goal in a 2-0 Milan win, picking out Tijjani Reijnders<\/a> at the far post to cut the ball back for a Giroud tap-in. A week later, in his first appearance at San Siro, he scored again. Milan won seven of their first eight games in the league.<\/p>\n Playing in a different position from the one he tends to occupy for the USMNT, Pulisic believes the experience of playing on the right rather than the left has made him a better player.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot, especially playing off the right side. I\u2019ve learned a lot about finding the right times to come inside. I\u2019ve improved with my weaker foot as well and in finding the right solutions, the right times to run in behind, when to show to feet. I\u2019ve really improved tactically about the game in that sense.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a defensive point of view as well, I think I\u2019ve improved and I feel good about helping the team defensively whether it\u2019s pressing or covering the right spaces. Some things I\u2019ve definitely seen a change in in coming to Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n It gives Gregg Berhalter, the USMNT coach and a frequent visitor to Italy this season, a more complete player ahead of the Copa America, where the hosts face group games against Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pulisic finished 2023 strongly. He is already in double figures for combined goals and assists and is set to have the most prolific campaign of his career.<\/p>\n Before Sunday\u2019s 3-1 home win against Roma, Pulisic was presented with the Serie A Player of the Month award for December. A quiet confidence simmers within.<\/p>\n Milan are out of this season\u2019s Champions League, finishing third in their group to drop down into the second-tier Europa League\u2019s straight-knockout phase, and were eliminated from the Coppa Italia by Atalanta last week. They are third in Serie A, nine points behind first-placed rivals Inter who beat them four times in 2023, including in both legs of last season\u2019s Champions League semi-final and, infamously, 5-1 in September in Pulisic\u2019s first Derby della Madonnina in the league. But he does not accept Milan are out of the title race. That\u2019s not in his mentality.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still half a season to go, so that doesn\u2019t seem fair,\u201d he bites back. \u201cWe\u2019re still going to push on and do our best. We still have lots to play for. We\u2019re still in the Europa League<\/a> (they have a two-leg play-off next month against French club Rennes over a place in that competition\u2019s last 16). There are many games left in the league this season, so we\u2019re not at all discouraged by what\u2019s going on. We\u2019re going to continue to push and win games and hopefully make our fans proud.\u201d<\/p>\n Injury-resistant at a club mired in an injury crisis and consistently decisive on the pitch, he has proved some of the Puli-sceptics wrong and hopes to take his form into the Copa America.<\/p>\n Pulisic was still a teenager when he played in the centenary edition of that tournament eight years ago. The U.S., playing then as they will this year as hosts and invited guests in what is the South American championship, made the semi-finals on that occasion before losing to Argentina. Can they do even better this time?<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no measure to say exactly, \u2018If we get this<\/em> far, that\u2019s success\u2019,\u201d Pulisic muses. \u201cWe\u2019re going in with the mentality (of) taking it game by game and, of course, the goal is to win the tournament \u2014 always when you go into a tournament \u2014 so that\u2019s how we look at things. We have a good young team and this is a great opportunity for us to play against the world\u2019s best and hopefully show the world what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n To win it, the USMNT will have to get past reigning World Cup and Copa America champions Argentina<\/a> and their captain Lionel Messi<\/a>, whose impact since joining MLS club Inter Miami last summer has been electric<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t say it\u2019s not expected,\u201d Pulisic says. \u201cHe (Messi) is, of course, the best to really ever do it. After having the (2022) World Cup he did and then obviously being back in MLS, it\u2019s been fantastic for the league. The buzz around the league, around Miami whenever they play\u2026 it seems like a big televised game. Players like that are going to bring in fans, new fans to watch the league, and for me it\u2019s only a positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Would it bring Pulisic back to the U.S. in the future? An old head on a 25-year-old\u2019s body still feels he has much more to give Milan before then.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, I\u2019m not an old player,\u201d he says. \u201cI hopefully have some great years in Europe ahead of me. I\u2019m loving my time here, so of course MLS is not in my head at the moment. But, yeah. At the end of my career? Absolutely.<\/p>\n \u201cI will say, it\u2019s come a long, long way from when I first started even\u2026 almost, what, 10 years (ago) when I moved to Europe. Where the game has come in the US from then, even MLS to where it is now, I\u2019ve seen a massive change just as far as the support in the US; you know, getting behind the national team and even the clubs now seeing Messi in Miami, things like that.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just so much buzz around the sport and I think it\u2019s only going to get better in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n (Top photo: Alessandro Belussi and Pietro Vai)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n Pulisic celebrates winning the Champions League with Chelsea, alongside father Mark and mother Kelley in 2021 (Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Pulisic\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/14083629\/Pulisic-Milan-Copa-scaled-e1705239455194.jpg\")
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\n (Sportinfoto\/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/15054020\/Pulisic-SC-3.jpg\")
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\n Pulisic is performing well in Milan (Alessandro Belussi and Pietro Vai)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Pulisic,](\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2023\/08\/08144439\/musah-3-scaled-e1691520327676.jpg\")
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\n Pulisic and Musah at the 2022 World Cup (Marvin Ibo Guengoer \u2013 GES Sportfoto\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"go-deeper\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/10062240\/0710_Pulisic-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/div>\n![\"Pulisic\"](\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/14084027\/Pulisic-Milan-Serie-A-scaled.jpg\")
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\n Celebrating a goal for Milan against Sassuolo last month (Piero Cruciatti\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n