Zlatan Ibrahimovic Wants Christian Pulisic To Play a New Role at AC Milan After Playing His ‘Best Season’ Last Year

AC Milan witnessed the USMNT skipper Christian Pulisic’s second coming in the 2023-24 season. In 2022, the American skipper was a regular on the bench for Chelsea. The next year, the 25-year-old became the main face of Milan’s campaign in Italy and Europe. Thanks to the impressive debut season, AC Milan’s All-time legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic is pretty impressed with the one-time Champions League winner. But Ibrahimovic observed it is time for the US captain to take up bigger responsibilities at Milan.

For starters, the Milan legend expects Christian Pulisic to improve this season after having a career “best season” last year with the Italian giants. Zlatan also wants the 25-year-old to mirror his USMNT role in the AC Milan camp as well.

Zlatan wants Christian Pulisic to groom himself to take Milan’s reins

During his recent appearance on ESPN FC’s First Take, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was asked what he would like to see out of Pulisic in Milan. “I think he did his best season last year with us I expect him to do even more this season,” the Sweden legend said, referring to Christian Pulisic. “[He should] grow as a leader also because he’s in a young team and we need these leaders to show the path for the team,” Ibrahimovic added. Thereafter, the 42-year-old assured that he and fellow AC Milan legends are ready to help Pulisic to take up the new role.

“We are there to help him we are there to support him and just make him focus on football, not soccer. I’ll call it football. I’ll call it football,” Zlatan added. It’s not surprising to see Zlatan bet on Pulisic’s leadership opportunities in the Italian club. He thrived the pressure of becoming the youngest USMNT captain as a 20-year-old in 2018. Hence, if Pulisic continues to shine in Milan in the coming years, it is not beyond him to don the Italian side’s captain’s armband one day. So, let’s see what the American skipper has already done in AC Milan during his debut season.

Here’s why Zlatan said Pulisic had his best season in AC Milan

Before joining AC Milan in July 2023, Christian Pulisic saw him being stripped of game-time in Chelsea. Firstly, recurring injuries sidelined the American skipper at Stamford Bridge. Besides, he has not started in most of Chelsea’s 2022-23 season games, as he came off the bench. But in Milan, he regularly made the starting lineup, missing only six games in the season because of injuries.

The 25-year-old played 50 games for Milan across competitions in the last season. He scored 15 goals and assisted 11 times for the Italian powerhouse. Though not unparalleled, Pulisic’s debut season was indeed iconic. Let’s see if Pulisic goes upwards and rises through the ranks with the seven-time European champions. Do you agree with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s expectations of Pulisic? Tell us in the comments.