Pulisic credits Pioli for AC Milan success: ‘He’s come through on his promises’

The USMNT forward has already set a career high in goals this season

Amid a career-best season in Italy, Christian Pulisic has credited AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli for keeping his promises.

In his first season with Milan, Pulisic has already set a career high for goals in all competitions with 12. After entering the international break on a run of four straight games with a goal, the American forward still has a minimum of 11 games remaining this season to add to his haul.

Pulisic struggled for regular playing time during the end of his spell at Chelsea, but he’s started 25 of Milan’s 29 league games so far. Speaking to Fox Sports, Pulisic said Pioli has held up his end of the bargain after lobbying for him to join Milan last summer.

“He has really come through on his promises,” Pulisic said. “It’s not just knowing you’re going to play — it’s having someone who really spoke to me before and really wanted me to come in.

“He’s given me an opportunity to go out and be myself the best way I know how, and has fit into what works best for the team. I think we’ve found a good balance of that.”

Pioli has been under pressure at times this season, but the coach appears to have steadied the ship of late. Milan is currently second place in the Serie A table and has reached the last eight of the Europa League, where a meeting with Italian rival Roma awaits.

Pulisic also spoke highly of the lifestyle in Milan, which he said has been a refreshing change of pace after five years in London.

“The lifestyle over here is definitely a shift from London,” Pulisic said. “Everything feels a bit slowed-down. Obviously nicer weather. It’s been a great change for me.

“Everything was moving kind of 100 miles an hour when I was in London, and the football culture was crazy. Here, I’ve been able to get away from the game, too, and enjoy the lifestyle, the culture, the food. I’m liking it a lot.”

Pulisic will aim to add to his record goal haul on Saturday, when Milan visits Fiorentina in a Serie A match.

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Report: McKennie rejects Juventus contract offer with reduced salary

The USMNT midfielder could be on the move this summer

Could Juventus sell Weston McKennie after a season in which he’s become one of the club’s most vital players?

That seems to be a possibility after the U.S. men’s national team midfielder reportedly rejected the club’s latest contract offer that featured a reduced salary.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Juventus offered the 25-year-old a new contract with lower terms that was swiftly turned down. With McKennie’s current deal expiring after next season, Juventus could look to sell the American this summer rather than risk losing him for free in 2025.

That would be a somewhat surprising development after McKennie has worked his way back to being a key player for Juve this season.

After returning from a half-season loan with Leeds last season, Juventus reportedly told McKennie that he wasn’t in the club’s plans for the 2023-24 campaign.

But despite a hostile reception (USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter said McKennie didn’t even have a locker or parking spot at Juve), the midfielder has won over head coach Max Allegri to become one of the first names on the team sheet this season.

McKennie has started all but four of Juve’s league games this season, and has nine assists in all competitions. His seven Serie A assists is second in the league’s assist chart.

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Lily Yohannes, 16, becomes youngest USWNT call-up since 2017

The Ajax teenager has become one of the top midfield prospects in Europe

Ajax midfielder Lily Yohannes, 16, has been named to the U.S. women’s national team roster for the SheBelieves Cup.

Yohannes becomes the youngest USWNT call-up since 2017, when a 16-year-old Sophia Smith was named to the team’s roster for a pair of friendlies against Russia.

Yohannes has become a regular starter for Ajax this season, making history as the youngest player to ever start a UEFA Women’s Champions League match, and the youngest American to ever play in the UEFA Champions League — men’s or women’s.

“We’ve been following her for quite a long time,” USWNT head coach Twila Kilgore told the media after the roster was released. “She’s played many, many games at Ajax, including Champions League games, which I think the public is more familiar with but we’re also able to follow along in the league.”

“Lily is somebody that can play the six, eight or 10,” Kilgore added. “She does for her club. And while we look to deepen the player pool with those that can play in a variety of different roles within the midfield positions, she’s somebody that comes to mind. We had the space and availability in camp to bring her in, and this was the right time to do so.”

(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

The teenager’s international future has become a topic of much discussion in recent months. Yohannes was born in Virginia, and moved to the Netherlands with her family when she was 10 years old. In February, Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker claimed that Yohannes wanted to play for the Dutch national team when she became a citizen.

Yohannes has been called into camps with the U.S. at the U-15 and U-16 level, and also attended a Netherlands U-19 camp this year as a guest player.

With the midfielder not yet eligible for the Netherlands, she has now taken a big step toward a future with the country of her birth — though she will still remain eligible for both countries after the SheBelieves Cup.

FIFA rules allow players to file a one-time switch to a new country if they have played no more than three competitive matches at senior level prior to turning 21. Pro Soccer Wire has confirmed that SheBelieves Cup games do not count as competitive matches for the purposes of FIFA’s rules.

Kilgore noted that while Yohannes wasn’t yet eligible to play for the Netherlands, accepting a call from the USWNT was a positive step toward securing her long-term international future.

“I think we offered Lily an invitation to this camp and she accepted and that’s a pretty big statement,” Kilgore said. “I think that she’s prepared to come in and do whatever is asked of her.”

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Turner open to ‘move backwards’ if Nottingham Forest stint doesn’t work out

Could the USMNT goalkeeper be on the move yet again?

Matt Turner has admitted he won’t hesitate to seek out another club if things don’t work out for him at Nottingham Forest.

After one year as Arsenal’s backup goalkeeper, Turner moved on to Forest last summer and began the season as the starter. But after being benched in the fall, only to regain his place, Turner was again replaced in the winter transfer window after Forest signed Matz Sels from Strasbourg.

Sels has become the full-time starter at Forest, with Turner only playing in cup matches since the Belgian’s arrival.

Ahead of the U.S. national team’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Jamaica, Turner spoke with USMNT legend Tim Howard about his place on head coach Gregg Berhalter’s depth chart.

“Obviously in a perfect world, in Gregg’s mind, I’m playing week-in, week-out, I’m in good form all the time, and then I’m playing well for the national team all the time. Unfortunately that’s not the reality right now,” Turner told the Daily Mail.

“But I’ve grown a lot as a goalkeeper in this last year — and also as a person… maybe I don’t have the greatest playing experience resume, but as like a life experience resume, I think I top almost any professional footballer in the world.”

Turner added: “Gregg understands the situation… we’ll sort out the club situation on the other side. I’ve had some good conversations with Nuno [Espírito Santo, Forest head coach] and they like what they see from me.”

After spending his first season in England as Arsenal’s backup, Turner said he went to the club’s leadership to inquire about his long-term status with the team.

Unable to receive assurances over a shot at playing, Turner sought a move away from north London. The 29-year-old admitted that he may be forced to have a similar conversation with Forest leadership.

“I’m not in the business of wasting time,” he said. “If it doesn’t work out for me here, then I can always move backwards. But when the opportunity presented itself… I had to jump at it.”

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Pulisic ‘loving’ life in Italy, nearly ready to do interview in Italian

The USMNT star sounds like he’s adjusting well to life in Italy, on and off the pitch.

Christian Pulisic sounds like he’s adjusting well to life in Italy, on and off the pitch.

In his first season at AC Milan, Pulisic has already set a career high in goals with 12. The U.S. national team star entered the international break on a streak of four games in a row with a goal.

As he continues to look like one of the signings of the season in Serie A, Pulisic said he’s also enjoying the lifestyle in Italy after spending five years in London with Chelsea.

“I’m enjoying it a lot,” Pulisic told reporters ahead of the USMNT’s Nations League semifinal against Jamaica. “It’s been a good change of pace for me. I’m loving the Italian culture. I’m trying to soak it all in. I’m doing the best I can to learn the language so I feel pretty good with all that stuff and I’m just loving it so far.”

Though he’s been in Italy for around nine months, Pulisic seems to be picking up a new language rather quickly.

“I understand about everything,” he said. “[Milan] asked me if I could do my interview in Italian the other day and I was like, ‘Yeah you can ask the questions [in Italian] and I’ll answer in English but next time.’ I’m getting close but still not fluent.”

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Musah full of praise for Pulisic’s goalscoring — and his Italian

Musah said Pulisic has been Milan’s best attacking player this season

Yunus Musah has been highly impressed with Christian Pulisic’s accomplishments with AC Milan this season, both on and off the field.

In his debut campaign with the Rossoneri, Pulisic has already reached a career high in goals with 12. The U.S. national team star entered the international break on a streak of four games in a row with a goal.

Musah, who is also in his first AC Milan season, wasn’t just impressed with his teammate’s displays on the pitch, but also his vastly improving Italian skills.

Speaking to reporters from USMNT camp ahead of Thursday’s Nations League semifinal against Jamaica, Musah said Pulisic has been Milan’s best attacking player in 2023-24 so far.

“I’m really really happy with the way I see Christian playing at the moment,” the midfielder said. “He’s scoring a lot of goals, affecting the play a lot in our team.

“I’d say he’s been our best attacking player this season at Milan, so I’m really happy for him. He’s doing so well. I see he’s enjoying it as well and possibly having one of his best seasons. So yeah, I’m really happy to see a fellow American do such a thing.”

Musah speaks fluent Italian, having lived in Italy for several years during his childhood. The 21-year-old helped Pulisic transition to life in a new country and a new language upon their arrival in Milan but lately, Musah said Pulisic is showing he doesn’t need quite as much help in the language department.

“Whenever I could help with the language I did, and he’s learning as well,” Musah said. “And as as you can see, he’s happy there, he’s enjoying himself, thriving. So I’m happy for him.”

The midfielder added: “He’s working really hard on his Italian and he’s managed to learn quite a bit. He really understands the manager now and [his] teammates.”

Musah also spoke about his own campaign thus far, having made the move from Valencia over the summer. After starting regularly for Milan over the first half of the season, Musah has been a bench option in recent months with Ismaël Bennacer, Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders all battling for minutes in center midfield.

“I’m really happy with how the season’s been going at such a big team like this,” Musah said. “I’ve managed to play a lot of games at the beginning, in the Champions League against some top teams like PSG.”

He added: “We have a lot of talented players in the middle, so there’s a lot of competition. We can all start, so it’s hard for the manager to choose who plays. I’m just ready whenever it’s my time.”

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Future USWNT boss Hayes won’t recruit Yohannes during Chelsea-Ajax tie

The 16-year-old midfielder is in high demand thanks to her emergence with Ajax

Emma Hayes has said she won’t try to sway Lily Yohannes toward the U.S. women’s national team when Chelsea meets Ajax in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals.

Yohannes has won a starting role with Ajax at just 16 years old, marking herself as a potential future superstar for club and country.

Which country the midfielder represents, though, is an open question at this point. Yohannes was born in Virginia and moved to the Netherlands in 2017 at age 10. Though she is not yet a Dutch citizen, Netherlands manager Andries Jonker has claimed the teenager would like to play for the Dutch in the future.

That could be an alarming prospect for Hayes, who will finish out the current season as Chelsea head coach before taking over the USWNT in May.

Though Hayes was full of praise for Yohannes ahead of Tuesday’s quarterfinal first leg, the coach said she won’t use the meeting as a recruiting opportunity.

“There’s no denying Lily has tremendous talent, and to play for a top European team at the age of 16 in the center midfield position just shows how much faith the coaching team has in her,” Hayes said in a press conference.

“Her final pass is exceptional. She’s got the ability, especially in tight areas she can get out of pressure really well. But her vision, the quality of her execution is really, really high. Sometimes I don’t believe she’s 16 years of age because she plays with such maturity, but a wonderful talent.”

Asked if she would aim to convince the midfielder to pick the USWNT, Hayes responded: “No, absolutely not. I’m here for Chelsea and I don’t influence those things at this time. Whatever she decides in her future that’s for her and her family to decide.

“Tomorrow she’s on the other team and I’m more interested in how we’re going to stop her, to be honest.”

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Pulisic scores in fourth straight, breaks personal goal record with Verona finish

Pulisic is in the form of his life this season for AC Milan, bagging his 12th goal of the campaign on Sunday

In front of goal, things have never been better for Christian Pulisic.

The U.S. men’s national team attacker scored his 12th goal of the season for AC Milan, getting on the scoresheet for the fourth straight match as the Rossoneri defeated Hellas Verona 3-1.

Pulisic has been on a superb run over the past month, posting five goals and two assists in Milan’s last seven matches, and has drawn three red cards for opposing players to boot.

Sunday’s strike at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi might have been the easiest goal of the bunch. Noah Okafor did most of the heavy lifting on what would eventually be the match-winner, stripping Verona’s Paweł Dawidowicz near midfield in the 50th minute.

The Switzerland forward would sprint away and go for goal himself only for Lorenzo Montipò to make a save at the near post.

Unfortunately for the Verona goalkeeper, the player to win the race for the rebound was Pulisic, who calmly tapped the loose ball into the empty net.

The tally takes Pulisic up to 12 goals and eight assists in all competitions, following up on goals against Empoli and Slavia Prague, who saw the USMNT star get on the scoresheet in both legs of a Europa League last-16 tie. Per Opta, no other American in a top-five league has scored in four straight games since at least 2010.

Watch Pulisic score his 12th of the season

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Brenden Aaronson: It’s been the toughest year of my life

Aaronson was reflective after a man-of-the-match performance for Union Berlin

Brenden Aaronson turned in a man-of-the-match display for Union Berlin on Saturday but after the game, his mood was more reflective than ecstatic.

Aaronson was hugely influential in his side’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen, playing a big role in Yorbe Vertessen’s opener before scoring himself just two minutes later.

The 23-year-old’s performance came on the heels of a major blow. Just days earlier, Gregg Berhalter omitted Aaronson from the U.S. men’s national team roster for this month’s Nations League finals. On Sunday, Berhalter would end up recalling the Union Berlin man after injuries to Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent.

Aaronson has struggled to assert himself at the club level for some time. After a hot start with Leeds last season, his form fell off in the second half of the campaign. The attacker was loaned out to Union for the 2023-24 season after Leeds was relegated, but has found life in the Bundesliga difficult as well.

Saturday’s goal was just the second of the season for Aaronson, who has started only eight of his 30 total appearances for Union. After one of his best performances in some time, the New Jersey native admitted that things haven’t been easy for him of late.

“It’s been the toughest year of my life,” Aaronson told reporters. “Going from Leeds and then not playing much here, it’s mentally a battle all the time, staying confident.”

Even amid a downturn in form at the club level, Aaronson had been consistently called into the USMNT before last week’s roster was released. Berhalter said he called the attacker after leaving him out of the squad, offering some words of encouragement.

“The message for him was, ‘I know this hurts. I know it’s a setback, but use it,” the coach said. “Use it to make you stronger, and to keep going and to keep fighting your way through through the obstacles that you have to overcome right now.’ It was a good conversation.”

Aaronson has now scored two goals in his last five games, as he continues to find more freedom under coach Nenad Bjelica.

“The opponent put a lot of pressure on our sixes with their sixes,” Bjelica said after the game on Saturday. “This left Brenden free in some situations. With Brenden and Yorbe, we wanted to field players who could do something in the smallest of spaces.”

Aaronson added: “I felt very comfortable in this position between the lines. It was about finding the free spaces. It just felt really good to me.”

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Juventus took McKennie’s locker and parking spot away last summer, Berhalter says

Juventus wanted the USMNT midfielder out, but he worked his way back into the club’s good graces

Juventus really seemed to want Weston McKennie out last summer.

After the midfielder returned from an ill-fated loan at Leeds, he got a rather frosty welcome back to the Serie A giants.

Juventus reportedly told McKennie that he wasn’t in the club’s plans for the 2023-24 season. The American midfielder himself has said “I came back and I felt like nobody really cared.”

But that level of dismissal went one step further apparently. According to U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter, McKennie didn’t even have a place to park or change in Turin when he arrived for preseason.

“Weston was in a situation where he went back to Juventus after the summer and he didn’t have a locker and he didn’t have a parking spot,” Berhalter said on a conference call Wednesday after naming his Nations League roster.

But as we all know now, things turned around quickly for McKennie. First he earned his way into manager Max Allegri’s plans for the season, then he became a regular starter. Now, as the season enters its final months, McKennie is one of the first names on the teamsheet and reportedly nearing a contract extension.

Berhalter was full of praise for the 25-year-old, who is now second in the Serie A assist charts after a two-assist performance over the weekend.

“Most players would say ‘OK, I’m done. I’m leaving this club. It’s not for me,'” Berhalter said.

“And Weston said, ‘I’m going to dig and I’m going to prove that I belong.’ And he’s done not only that, but he’s proven to be one of the best players of Juventus this year and one of the top midfielders in all Serie A.

“So it shows his mentality, shows his growth as a person. And it shows that he’s able to take these obstacles and continue on and keep performing. And I think that’s a mark of a really good player.”

McKennie and Juventus have one more game before the international break, as they face Genoa on Sunday. The midfielder will then travel to Texas to meet up with his USMNT teammates ahead of a Nations League semifinal against Jamaica on Thursday.

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