Christian Pulisic signs with US-owned AC Milan to revive his club career before home World Cup

Christian Pulisic will attempt to revive his sagging club career at American-owned AC Milan leading into a home World Cup in the United States in 2026.

Milan announced on Thursday that Pulisic has signed a four-year deal with the club, with the Rossoneri retaining the option for a further season.

Considered the top U.S. player, the 24-year-old Pulisic struggled with injuries and never fully lived up to expectations at Chelsea. He has left the London club with a year left on his contract.

The midfielder-forward is set to become the third American to play for the Rossoneri after Oguchi Onyewu and Sergiño Dest.

Milan, which is owned by American investment firm RedBird, paid a transfer fee of 20 million euros ($22 million) for Pulisic, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport. That’s less than a third of what Chelsea paid Borussia Dortmund for Pulisic in 2019.

“I’m very happy to be here. I’m excited. I’m excited to start with this historic club,” Pulisic told reporters waiting for him upon arrival at Milan’s Malpensa airport on Wednesday. “It’s legendary and I’m really excited to come here and try to win some titles.”

Milan is a seven-time European champion and lost to city rival Inter Milan in the Champions League semifinals last season. The Rossoneri won the last of their 19 Serie A titles in 2022.

Despite his struggles at Chelsea, Pulisic did win the Champions League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup.

Pulisic has played 60 times for the United States, scoring 25 times. The Pennsylvania native helped the squad reach the last 16 at last year’s World Cup in Qatar.

The 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Pulisic is the second player to leave Chelsea for Milan in this transfer window after Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Pulisic will also be reunited with former Chelsea teammates Olivier Giroud and Fikayo Tomori at Milan.

It won’t take much for Pulisic to do better than Onyewu and Dest did at Milan.

Onyewu played only 31 minutes for Milan in a 2009 Champions League match before a knee injury while on U.S. team duty ruled him out long term. He also got into a training session brawl with Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Dest made just eight appearances for Milan on a loan spell from Barcelona last season.

Pulisic will take Ibrahimović's No. 11 shirt after the former Sweden international retired after last season.

After news of Pulisic’s impending transfer surfaced last week, the Gazzetta dello Sport featured him on its front page on Saturday with a headline that translated as “Captain America is coming” — next to a photomontage of Pulisic dressed as the superhero.

While Pulisic has often captained the U.S., Tyler Adams had that honor at last year’s World Cup.