USMNT star Christian Pulisic suffers new injury: When could AC Milan’s top player return to the pitch?

Trying to stay in the race for a European spot in Italy, Milan manager Paulo Fonseca delivered some concerning news in his pre-match presser ahead of their clash with Roma on Sunday when it comes to Christian Pulisic. The manager said that the American has suffered a setback in his recovery from his calf injury and won’t be available until after the new year due to a new knock. While no official timeframe was given, Pulisic has already been absent since early December with the injury and Milan have struggled to hit the back of the net in that time.

“I expected that we could have Pulisic. He is fine but these last two days he has an ankle problem, which is another one,” Fonseca said. “He hasn’t trained with us. It is a problem that arose during the recovery process, he is not ready for tomorrow, not even for the bench. Not for the previous problem but this new one that has come up.”

Milan’s struggles without Pulisic make sense when the American has eight goals and six assists in all competitions so far this season and no one has stepped up to fill the void left by his absence. In fact, Milan could be without Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Rafael Leao, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Noah Okafor for that match against Roma.

Any team would have trouble keeping up production without absentees like that but the trio of Alvaro Morata, Tammy Abraham and Samuel Chukwueze must step in during this time. They’ve only combined for seven goals and one assist in Serie A play which doesn’t even stack up to what Pulisic alone has produced.

While Milan have turned things around after a start under Fonseca that saw them go winless in their first two matches under new management, Pulisic’s form has been a strong reason behind that improvement, however. A player who has a history of muscular injuries, both Milan and the United States men’s national team have done their best to manage Pulisic’s workload with him even missing a friendly against Mexico because Mauricio Pochettino could see that he was tired in training.

Despite that, injuries do happen as they’re part of the game of soccer but the goal is ensuring that Pulisic comes back in the form that he left play because it’ll be critical for Milan in Champions League. Sitting eighth in Serie A and eight points off of Lazio for a Champions League spot, its unlikely that Milan will finish in the top four this season, but they can make noise in UCL to ensure that it isn’t a lost campaign.

To do that, Milan will need Pulisic back sooner than later but also taking their time ensures that they have their talisman healthy for the long term where both his club and country will be looking to him for goals.