Milan manager may opt to bench Pulisic for Venezia matchup

AC Milan manager Paulo Fonseca may relegate Christian Pulisic to the bench upon his return from international duty.

The American star is currently with the USMNT as they are set to face Canada. The matchup between the two rivals is on Saturday in Kansas City. Pulisic and his team will travel east to Cincinnati to host New Zealand on September 10th.

Following the pair of friendlies, Pulisic will make the trip back to Italy to rejoin Milan.

The Serie A side will restart their 2024/25 domestic campaign with a matchup against Venezia on Saturday, September 14th. The winger will travel nearly 10,000 miles between Milan, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Milan again in about ten days.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, this lengthy travel could force Fonseca to ease Pulisic back onto the pitch.

The upcoming Serie A matchup will start around 48 hours after Pulisic arrives in Italy from his native country. Venezia currently sits 19th out of 20 Italian top-flight teams at the moment. This comes after recently being promoted from Serie B.

Milan faces two tough teams directly after the Venezia fixture

The decision to potentially sit Pulisic for the Venezia match may also be influenced by a similar situation last season. Milan and the American attacker played rivals Inter Milan in their first game back from the September international break.

I Rossoneri fans felt Pulisic was still extremely sluggish when he arrived back in Italy at the time.

His performance in the match certainly seemed to support these claims. Milan ended up suffering a humiliating 5-1 defeat at the hands of their rivals on the night. Pulisic was certainly not the only player in the team to play poorly, but it was one of his worst performances of the entire season.

Along with being aware of the incident in 2023, Milan brass may also be looking ahead at their fixture list. The Italian giants will undoubtedly go into the Venezia matchup as overwhelming favourites. Nevertheless, they will face two tough fixtures just days after the game.

Milan will host Liverpool on Tuesday, September 17th in their opening Champions League fixture of the season. They will then face Inter Milan on the following Saturday. While all fixtures provide challenges, the two games against European powerhouses are undoubtedly more difficult for Milan.

Pulisic has starred for Milan since Chelsea switch

Pulisic’s club has struggled under Fonseca so far this season. The Portuguese manager was brought in during the summer to replace Stefano Pioli. While Milan went undefeated in preseason, including victories against Manchester City and Real Madrid, they have yet to collect a Serie A win.

They even had to fight back in two different games to grab draws against Torino and Lazio.

Despite Milan’s early issues, Pulisic has faired well since joining the club from Chelsea last summer.

The American racked up 15 goals and 11 assists during his freshman campaign in Italy. So far, the USMNT captain has a goal and an assist in the trio of fixtures this season. He also leads the entire Serie A with 10 key passes as well.

Photo credits: IMAGO / Insidefoto : IMAGO / Andrea Rosito.