Pulisic doubt could lead to Rabiot debut in Milan-Bologna

Friday evening’s reports claim that Massimiliano Allegri remains uncertain regarding the availability of Christian Pulisic for Milan’s upcoming Serie A test against Bologna on Sunday, which could potentially mean a debut for Adrien Rabiot following his deadline day move to San Siro. 

Rabiot could start for Milan if Pulisic is unavailable

Milan will host Bologna in San Siro on Sunday evening, kicking off at 19.45 BST, in the team’s first fixture back after the September international break. 

Pulisic, however, remains a doubt for Milan, as he started in the international friendly between the USA and Japan in Columbus, Ohio, late in the evening on Wednesday night, and has since had to make the long journey back to Europe, which has not left much time for recovery or for training with the Rossoneri. 

It remains to be seen whether he will be available to Allegri, who will also have to do without €37m summer signing Ardon Jashari, who remains unavailable through injury. There are also still question marks over star forward Rafael Leao. 

In the event that Pulisic is not able to start for Milan on Sunday, reports from Sky Sport Italia claim that Allegri is leaning towards starting Adrien Rabiot in midfield and pushing Ruben Loftus-Cheek up from the midfield to one of the attacking roles alongside centre-forward Santiago Gimenez. 

If that does prove to be the case, Rabiot could be in line to go up against his former Marseille teammate Jonathan Rowe, who has recently joined Sunday’s opponents, Bologna.

Rabiot and Rowe were both sold by Marseille this summer after a reported fight between the two players after their first Ligue 1 match of the season, which was so serious in nature that sporting director Mehdi Benatia described the scenes as ‘utter chaos’. Benatia also claimed that the fight required intervention from stadium security to separate the two players.