Christian Pulisic’s stellar month of December earned him a major recognition in Serie A.
Pulisic was named Serie A Player of the Month for December, the league announced Friday. The U.S. men’s national team forward has been one of the Rossoneri’s best players this season, carrying his strong form into 2024.
Pulisic made five league appearances last month, totaling two goals and two assists for AC Milan. He also added one goal in UEFA Champions League action in a 2-1 group stage triumph over Newcastle United.
“The impact of the captain of the US national team, Christian Pulisic, on the Italian league has been immediately equal to his talent,” said Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo. “Never ordinary plays combined with concreteness, personality, vision of the game and spirit of sacrifice have made him fundamental in the tactical set-up of AC Milan, which, also thanks to the two goals and two assists scored in December by the American player, remains firmly in the Champions League area of the league table.”
The 25-year-old has continued to make an impact in the new year, registering two assists (one in Serie A and one in Coppa Italia play). Pulisic has made 17 Serie A appearances in total since his summer move from Chelsea, scoring six goals and registering five assists in league action.
AC Milan has reaped the rewards of Pulisic’s positive run of form, moving up to third place in the Serie A standings.
The Rossoneri will next square off with AS Roma in league action on Sunday before concluding January’s schedule with matches against Udinese and Bologna.
Been so fun watching Serie A regularly for the first time in a while with CP… Weston’s superb play… Weah back healthy, looking more settled.
Watched Pulisic play yesterday against Roma and they had no answer for him. He should have scored at least one, and I think he did technically get one assist, but he repeatedly got on the ball and drove and just tore Roma’s defensive shape apart, leaving defenders scrambling in his wake all over the field. He’s at a completely different level at Milan than I’ve ever seen him before except in flashes.
It’s also hard to not notice how he’s playing off a target forward there at Roma. I love Balogun…but part of me wonders if Balogun needs to shift over to the left side in the Rafael Leao role for the USMNT with a target man like Pepi or Sargent up top, while Pulisic plays at RW and Weah operates as a super-sub and rotational starter. Pulisic seems freer at AC Milan and I suspect part of it is, he’s more creator than pure scorer, and where he truly shines is running at the defense with the ball at his feet. And he does seem to me, anyhow, to be better on the right side. From the right-hand side he functions more as a provider than the main scorer and that seems to free him up to do what he does best…and, paradoxically, also seems to lead to him scoring more goals because in his role, goals are a bonus instead of the focus.
Very similar to post-Covid 2020, when he also played with Giroud as his CF. Leao drawing attention much like Willian.