AC Milan have reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign Christian Pulisic in a deal worth up to €22m ($24.2m, £18.8m).
The transfer fee is initially €20m plus €2m in surcharges, with a sensible resale clause in the event of a future transfer.
Milan made a second offer for Pulisic on Wednesday, valued at up to €22m, following a previous $15.3m bid for the USMNT captain.
The 24-year-old will leave Chelsea after struggling to secure a place in the team and seeking regular playing time for the USMNT a few key years ago. The 2024 Copa America takes place next summer before the USA co-hosts the 2026 World Cup.
Lyon also put down a €25m offer for Pulisic earlier this week, which is closer to the number Chelsea were hoping for. However, Pulisic made it clear that he had no interest in joining Lyon.
Pulisic, whose contract at Chelsea has only one year left, already has an agreement with Milan.
Chelsea and Milan have developed a good relationship over the past few years. Olivier Giroud, Fikayo Tomori, Tiemoue Bakayoko and most recently Ruben Loftus-Cheek have all joined the Italian club.
The arrival of Loftus-Cheek earlier in this window means Milan have filled one of their two non-EU registration spots for the upcoming season. Pulisic doesn’t count for the second round as he holds a Croatian passport.
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Pulisic only made eight Premier League starts for Chelsea in the 2022/23 season.
He joined from Borussia Dortmund for £58million ($63.6million) in January 2019 before remaining on loan in Germany for the remainder of the season.
Pulisic was part of the Champions League-winning squad in 2020/21 and scored in the first leg of the semifinals against Real Madrid.
Despite his struggles at national level, Pulisic remains a key player for the United States, with 60 caps and 25 goals for his country.
He started in all four USMNT games at the 2022 World Cup and was named Player of the Game in two of his team’s three group stage games. Pulisic finished the tournament with one goal and two assists in four appearances.
He was named Player of the Tournament at the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League Final as USA defeated Canada in the final to lift the trophy. The win was his second consecutive Nations League triumph.
GO DEEPER
Christian Pulisic and Chelsea have made their way – so what’s next for the USMNT’s best player?
Analysis by Liam Twomey and Paul Tenorio
Pulisic finished 20th in the squad for minutes played in all competitions in the 2022-23 season and Chelsea have given numerous signals in the first year of ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital that they will leave the American, not least spending more than 20% £100m ($124.1m) combined for Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk.
The source of some Chelsea fans’ dislike of Pulisic is difficult to pinpoint. His supposed criticism of the hugely popular former head coach Thomas Tuchel in his 2022 book went down badly with many.
Some of this may also be a reaction to the hype that continues to surround him as the face of American football across the Atlantic – hype he largely justified with a string of impressive performances at the World Cup in Qatar.
Perhaps it’s simply the frustration that Pulisic never came close to regaining that form after a fulminating end to the COVID-19-hit 2019/20 season.
(Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)