Yunus Musah made a major move in his club career last summer, joining Italian giants AC Milan and after registering a career-high in appearances, the American midfielder reflected on his debut Serie A campaign.
Musah is back with the U.S. men’s national team ahead of upcoming June friendlies vs. Colombia and Brazil. The 21-year-old was joined by fellow USMNT teammate Christian Pulisic in the Rossoneri squad this past season, after Pulisic also made a summer transfer of his own.
Musah and Pulisic both featured heavily in Stefano Pioli’s squad, helping the Rossoneri to a second-place finish and sealing a return to the UEFA Champions League for next season. The American duo was one of several pair of club teammates in Europe last season and Musah voiced his enjoyment of doing so for one of Italy’s historic clubs.
“I’ve gotten to connect with Christian a lot over the past year, spending a lot of time with him this season on and off the field,” Musah told reporters on Monday. “It’s been great to connect, because I didn’t get the chance to do it much today at camp, so it’s been nice to do that the whole year.”
“On the field, he’s grown so much playing on the right-wing,” Musah added. “Being so effective this season in scoring goals and assists, he’s been the best attacker on our team. The manager has given him confidence and had faith in him, it was a mutual thing, and the confidence the manager gave him was reflected on the field.”
Musah made a total of 40 appearances for the Rossoneri last season, featuring in four different competitions, including the Champions League and Europa League. He logged over 2,200 minutes in midfield. registering two assists, and only missing four matches through injury.
After missing four-consecutive matches from late-December to early-January, Musah returned to action and featured heavily during the second half of the season. Despite lifting no silverware in his first season in Milan, Musah was pleased with his campaign as a whole.
“My season went really well in the beginning until December when I got a little injury,” Musah said. “I played a lot of games in the league and Champions League so that was really great, so that’s when you expect things will go like that for the whole season. But things happen and you have to adjust.
“Towards the end of the season I started being involved in some important games again, Europa League and the derby,” he added. “It’s been a good season, I was always there pushing and staying around the team. It’s been a good first season.”
Musah enters USMNT camp, fighting to keep his role in Gregg Berhalter’s midfield, especially with several in-form players joining him. Weston McKennie enjoyed a strong 2023-24 campaign for Juventus, Malik Tillman was stellar on loan at PSV, and Johnny Cardoso made an immediate impact in La Liga with Real Betis.
Tyler Adams, Gio Reyna, and Luca De La Torre will also be fighting for minutes, while LAFC’s Timmy Tillman joins the squad for his second camp. Musah hinted at the challenge of facing Colombia and Brazil over the next week before opening group stage play against Bolivia on June 23.
“Colombia is a complicated rival. Every game they play with a lot of intensity,” Musah said. “They are very physical, especially their defense. I think they have a lot of talent in the attack also, like Luis Díaz, so this game will help us a lot in the preparations. We are facing a really good opponent and they will get the best version of us.
“Testing ourselves against the best is something that is really important for us because we are only going to get better when playing against the best,” he added. “Before Copa América it’s great to test ourselves and see what we need to work on. And also try to win these games and get momentum.”