With the USMNT's World Cup opener against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium just 39 days away, fans are starting to worry about the form of some of their stars. One of the first names on Mauricio Pochettino's team sheet is surely Christian Pulisic, considering he has scored 32 times for the Stars and Stripes. For comparison, the second-highest scorer in the March squad was Ricardo Pepi on 13.
However, is the form of captain America at club level a concern? On Sunday, the 27 year old came off the bench as AC Milan were beaten 2-0 by Sassuolo at Città del Tricolore. Four defeats in seven Serie A games has very much extinguished the Rossoneri's Scudetto hopes in recent weeks. For Pulisic personally, he is now without a goal in 17 club appearances, which is the longest streak of his career.
His most-recent goal came against Hellas Verona just after Christmas, racking up 11 starts and six cameos off the bench subsequently without finding the back of the net. His previous longest goal draught was 16 matches during the 2022/23 season at Chelsea, scoring only once throughout that entire campaign, on target against Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking after Milan's recent goalless draw with Juventus, manager Massimiliano Allegri had this to say to DAZN in Italy:
"Christian is a very sensitive man and this drought is hitting him harder. He is also someone who struggles more with the physicality of duels and the lack of a center forward. "
This current decline is a lot more concerning than the one he endured in West London, with a World Cup on home soil on the horizon, but is also a lot more unexpected, given how good he had been beforehand.
Christian Pulisic club statistics by calendar year
Calendar year | Pulisic appearances | Pulisic goals | Pulisic assists |
|---|---|---|---|
2026 | 17 | Zero | 1 |
2025 | 45 | 19 | 8 |
2024 | 49 | 16 | 13 |
2023 | 33 | 7 | 4 |
2022 | 42 | 7 | 5 |
2021 | 46 | 6 | 6 |
2020 | 24 | 5 | 4 |
2019 | 34 | 10 | 8 |
Note: All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt.
Pulisic's decline in form since Christmas has been in stark contrast to what he was producing before. 2024 and 2025 were the most productive campaigns of his career, scoring 16 and then 19 goals respectively, racking up 56 goals involvements in total. There were points in the not too distant past where he was one of, if not the undisputed, best attacker in Serie A, but this Pulisic has seemingly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
For the USMNT, Pulisic's last goal came in November 2024 against Jamaica in St. Louis during the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-finals. That was his fourth goal of 2024, also on target against Brazil and New Zealand in friendlies and against Bolivia at Copa América. However, he is now without a goal in eight caps, after controversially sitting out last summer's Gold Cup in need of rest.
So, is his form in Serie A an issue for Pochettino? Well, at the World Cup this summer, he will play an entirely different role. Pochettino did experiment with Pulisic as a striker at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Portugal last month, but that simply did not work so should be shelved, never to be seen again.
He is at his best when able to drift inside from the left, something Allegri's 3-5-2 shape does not allow him to do. With fit again Antonee Robinson behind him, one of the most attacking left-backs you're likely to find, they form a nice combination. Put succinctly, Pulisic remains one of the USA's best players and this squad does not boast a plethora of elite-level attacking difference makers. Thus, he will be in the XI come June, even if his club form is far from ideal.
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