Christian Pulisic signs new AC Milan deal to lead fallen giants into club-defining new era

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Tom Weber | Writer

Christian Pulisic has committed his long-term future to AC Milan as the fallen Italian giants enter a new era.

The 28-year-old has signed a new contract that will keep him with the Rossoneri through 2031. Pulisic had never made a secret of his desire to stay at Milan, but actually getting a new deal sorted took quite a while.

The United States men's national team star asked for a new contract after enjoying a strong start to the previous season, but the club had different priorities at the time and dragged their feet, while Pulisic's form fell off a cliff in the new year.

It ultimately took until the summer for the American's future to become clear. Milan fired their entire sporting leadership after missing out on Champions League qualification on the final day of the season and appointed Ruben Amorim as their new head coach.

The Portuguese made it clear that he wanted to keep the winger and build his team around him. Pulisic had offers from Major League Soccer, chiefly New York City FC, but they were blocked by Milan.

A fresh start under Amorim

A few months on, Pulisic has now put pen to paper on a new deal. "Milan has given me everything. It feels like home, and I’m in love with the club," the 28-year-old said after his extension was announced.

"Pulisic's contract extension reflects a shared commitment to building on the progress made together in recent years, with the ambition to keep improving, achieve new milestones and write more memorable chapters in the Club's history," the club wrote in a statement.

With the attacker's new deal, Milan have resolved one of their biggest personnel headaches heading into 2027, which is when his previous deal was due to expire, although the club did hold an option to extend it by a further season.

The uncertainty surrounding the future of a key player like Pulisic was an unwelcome distraction for new head coach Amorim, who needs his squad to be fully focused on matters on the pitch. The pressure to succeed at Milan is enormous.

The 19-time Italian champions have only won one Scudetto in the past 15 years, while city rivals Inter have become the dominant force in Serie A again, claiming three titles in the 2020s alone and reaching two Champions League finals.

Amorim's position is already being questioned by the media, just four months into the job. The 41-year-old has only won half of his 12 games in charge, which isn't good enough for a club with title-winning ambitions.

Milan have lost two of their three games in the Europa League, including a humiliating 3-0 to Bournemouth last week, and are coming off a 4-2 home defeat to Bologna on Wednesday. That's despite heavy financial backing in the summer.

Having dismissed the club's CEO, technical director, sporting director and previous head coach, Milan owner Gerry Cardinale took on a more hands-on approach this summer and loosened the purse strings in pursuit of tangible success.

He splurged a club-record-shattering €74 million on PSG striker Goncalo Ramos, €50m on Strasbourg winger Diego Moreira and €30m on Lazio defender Mario Gila. All told, Milan spent €164m on new signings, while raking in €87m in sales.

Cardinale has gone all-in on Amorim, and he won't accept failure. "I have complete faith in him," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "At the end of Top Gun, 'my' movie, there's a great line: 'I'm not abandoning my wingman,' says Tom Cruise. And I'm not abandoning Ruben.

"He's absolutely not in danger. I'll stay by his side. I won't make the same mistakes I've made in recent years. He's my coach, and we'll continue to work together until we can make the leap in quality. You can't win if you keep switching from one coach to another.

"I chose Amorim. If I'd made a mistake, I'd admit it, but I don't think I did. He learned a lot from what happened at Manchester United, and I hired him because he explained the mistakes he made there.

"He has the right culture, he's a leader, a manager, and a well-prepared coach. There's a different atmosphere at Milanello [the training ground] than in the last four years. The credit goes to him."

Cardinale confirmed that Milan will be active in January. "We need to continue improving the squad because in the summer I wasn't able to do everything I wanted," he explained.

"We're rebuilding the team, and while I like the new arrivals, the ones who stayed, and the names I got rid of, it will probably take a couple more transfer sessions to complete everything. We're only a quarter of the way there, and the priority is to build a team that can deal with injuries."

Despite the team still being a work in progress, the owner believes that Milan can win the Scudetto this season, despite already being seven points off league leaders Inter. Cardinale insists: "It's absolutely possible, 100%."

A new era

The appointment of Amorim was the start of the new era, but there are even bigger things on the horizon for Milan. The first order of business is to get the club's ducks in a row behind the scenes.

After sacking the previous management, Milan restructured their hierarchy. Instead of filling the vacancies, Cardinale created new roles for a few right-hand men while he personally oversaw the club's day-to-day running, including transfers and other related activities.

In the modern day, operating without any kind of recruitment-focused managers is probably unsustainable, and Milan are currently in talks to appoint former Eintracht Frankfurt mastermind Markus Krosche in a director-of-football-style role.

However, if Krosche believes that he will wield far-reaching powers at Milan, he is mistaken. Cardinale is adamant that the previous structure was a failure, and he will not give another director as much authority as before.

"The choice of sporting director is one of the most important after this summer's transition, when I fired everyone and took over the club. I'm talking to Krosche and other people, the best in football," Cardinale said.

"With a season that ends in May and a transfer window starting in June, I don't want to rush. I'm directly managing the club now, and I like it, but I can't do it forever because I have another job. Plus, there are people much more qualified than me.

"However, in May I had to rebuild AC Milan, and only someone like me could do it. Now, a sporting director will arrive, but he or she will be a part of a much more complex organizational structure.

"They will have to work with me. We'll do everything together because I will no longer hand over the keys to the club to a sporting director or a head of football."

But this isn't even the biggest construction site for Cardinale and Milan - quite literally. Together with Inter, the Rossoneri have unveiled plans for their new shared state-of-the-art arena, the 71,500-capacity General Stadium, which is to be erected in time for Euro 2032.

Construction on the new €1.2 billion sports cathedral is slated to begin in 2028. Controversially, the new ground will replace the iconic San Siro, which is to be demolished to make way for the Generali Stadium.

Despite widespread protests and calls for the preservation of the 100-year-old Stadio Giuseppe Meazza due to its cultural heritage and striking architectural features, Italian authorities have refused to put it under any kind of formal protection.

Supporters chanted "Hands off San Siro" at the unveiling of the Generali Stadium plan and unfurled a banner that read: "You will never extinguish the lights at San Siro."

Despite the controversy surrounding the treatment of the San Siro, the new home of Milan and Inter will be a commercial game-changer for the clubs. It will be a multi-use venue fully owned by the clubs.

It is thus expected to act as a revenue booster akin to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs' matchday revenue has more than doubled since they moved into their new ground, while other commercial income has more than tripled.

The new Milan stadium is also of national importance because Italy has become notorious for its decaying footballing infrastructure. "It's a project we've been working on for four years, a priority," Cardinale explained.

"The new San Siro is a fundamental step for Italy, a country where building new facilities seemed impossible. We must find a way to bring Serie A back to the level it deserves. Because a stronger Serie A also means a stronger AC Milan.

"The only way to compete with the Premier League is to start transforming our economic profile. I believe a club like AC Milan and its fans deserve an infrastructure of this quality. This stadium is a powerful statement from me and RedBird of how important all of this is to us.

"We're doing everything we can to get back to the top. The milestone we've reached with the stadium is important, but there's no stadium in the world that, for me, is as important as a derby victory against Inter [on Saturday]."

Written by

Tom Weber | Writer

Tom Weber is an experienced, multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer as part of his freelance work for FootballTransfers.

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