Loftus-Cheek talks Pulisic, Musah, and Milan friendlies in USA
As one of the many elite European clubs coming to this side of the Atlantic Ocean this summer, you can watch the AC Milan friendlies in the USA. Yet, compared to the other teams heading here too, the club is special in one way. Milan has two notable Americans, including the best player of the current crop of American talent. Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah will feature for Milan in its three-game summer tour of the United States. That comes on the back of successful seasons in Italy. Both made moves to Milan before the 2023/24 season to great success.
Joining the two Americans is Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Much like Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek was an outcast at Chelsea who quickly blossomed into one of the better players in Serie A.
In a press conference on Thursday, World Soccer Talk spoke with Loftus-Cheek about the Americans featured in the Milan side.
Speaking about Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek remarked, “He’s a leader, and he leads by how he plays. We really hope he gets better this coming season, and it has been a pleasure to play with Christian and see his growth, as well.”
It is a major opportunity for Pulisic and Musah to continue their growth. Pulisic set a personal best in goals in a domestic campaign with 12 last season. His nine assists were also his best for one league season in which he made 36 appearances.
Playing time works for Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek says same can work for Musah
Loftus-Cheek spoke with World Soccer Talk and other reporters as Milan enter the preparations for the 2024/25 campaign. Milan will play Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona in New York, Chicago and Baltimore, respectively.
Much like Christian Pulisic, having more time to get comfortable as a consistent starter allowed Ruben Loftus-Cheek to thrive. The English midfielder tied his single-season bests for goals and assists. To be fair, though, that is not the best metric to use for someone who generally plays out of a deeper role. Regardless, Loftus-Cheek proved that playing time is all he needs. The season he tied that goals and assists tally was in 2018/19 with Chelsea where he made 24 appearances in the Premier League.
American fans will see what happened to Pulisic and hope the same can ring true for Yunus Musah. The challenge for the American midfielder is that he plays in a similar position to Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Still, Loftus-Cheek sees Musah as a player who can continue his development as a player.
“Yunus was fantastic last season,” Loftus-Cheek said. “He maybe did not play the number of games he wanted to, but when he played, he was fantastic. I’m sure for Yunus he’ll want to play more this season.”
The preseason will be an opportunity for Musah to show his value to new manager Paulo Fonseca. Milan has started the preliminary portion of its preseason program, and Musah will hope to be a major part of it.
Preseason friendlies in USA could provide a preview of Milan campaign
If Musah figures to play regularly, Fonseca will want a good look at him in the upcoming friendlies. Milan opens its preseason calendar in the United States in New York City against Premier League champions Manchester City. That game is on Saturday, July 27. Four days later, Milan travels west to Chicago to take on Real Madrid at Soldier Field. Milan then concludes its preseason tour of the United States against Barcelona in Baltimore on Aug. 6. Tickets to those games are still available on Vivid Seats. Plus many of the games are available on live streaming too (see the AC Milan TV schedule for more details).
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