'Wouldn't he be ripe to be shopped?' - Alexi Lalas urges AC Milan to build around Christian Pulisic, or risk losing the U.S. star

Despite a generally miserable campaign for AC Milan, who lost to Bologna 1-0 Wednesday in the Coppa Italia final, U.S. international Christian Pulisic has turned in a remarkable individual season. The USMNT star managed to set a career best for goal contributions in a season.

With 11 goals and nine assists in 2024-25 and 12 goals and eight assists this campaign, he is the only USMNT player in the last 20 years to record 20 goal contributions in multiple seasons in a top-five European league. But will Milan's failed season prompt Pulisic to consider leaving the club?

Former USMNT star Alexi Lalas said that, if Pulisic was having a similar season at another club, he would be on the market already looking for a move.

“I started to think about Christian Pulisic relative to this Milan team,” Lalas said on his State of the Union podcast. “If this wasn't Milan - that Christian Pulisic was playing for a Como or a Cagliari, you know, mid-level, lower-level team in Serie A that wasn't supposed to do big things and certainly didn't have a history of doing big things - wouldn't he be ripe to be shopped? Wouldn't he be ripe to be picked off to go?

"Because unless something changes, there's a real good chance that AC Milan is probably not going to play in Europe. And if they do, they need things to happen. Is there any chance this summer that someone looks at Christian Pulisic and therefore frames it as 'Well, he's playing for an OK club despite their history' ... or Christian Pulisic looks at it and says 'You know what, not for nothing, but I continue to perform and I need to be at a place that's playing Champions League.' "

Lalas said that at 26, Pulisic could make a move - which means that Milan need to step up this summer and prove they want to build around him.

“He's still young enough," Lalas said. "He can buy into a - not a long term-project - but at least a project to get them back. I'm talking about AC Milan to where they they once were. So they're going to have to do something no matter what this summer."

Despite Pulisic's brilliant season - he contributed to 29 goals in 48 appearances across all competitions - AC Milan have still struggled. The Rossoneri sit eighth on the Serie A table and a place in Europe next season looks unlikely.

With two league games left in the Serie A season, AC Milan (60) need results to go their way to finish inside the top four, where Juventus (64) is four points ahead of them. The Rossoneri finish out their season with an away fixture against AS Roma on May 18, and then host AC Monza at the San Siro on May 24 in their final game of the season.