Ranking USMNT star Christian Pulisic's best club seasons: Hot start at AC Milan doesn't top list

Christian Pulisic is living an incredible moment at AC Milan. After he moved to the Italian Serie A in the summer of 2023, the U.S. men's national team winger already scored 15 goals in all competitions, and with two games left, this is already his best season in terms of goals scored since he started playing professional soccer. 

Pulisic became the second U.S. international with 10 league goals in a season in the top four European leagues after Clint Dempsey did it twice, first in the 2011-12 season (17 goals) and second in the 2010-11 season (12 goals). It's just another example of the great impact that the former Chelsea player has had so far at AC Milan. 

The Italian side signed Pulisic in the summer for around €22 million from Chelsea, making him a starter under Stefano Pioli this campaign. Let's now rank his five best club seasons since he started to play for Borussia Dortmund where he made his debut in January of 2016. 

5. 2021-22 at Chelsea

During the summer of 2019, Chelsea signed Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund for around €64 million. The USMNT international had a great impact even in his first season where he scored 10 goals in all competitions, but two years after, he had an even better impact as he played much more despite an injury that forced him to miss the majority of the first part of the season. Under Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea ended up third in the league but lost both finals of the FA Cup and League Cup in penalties against Liverpool. It was a difficult season for the club, as the owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell Chelsea following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Pulisic scored some key goals and played consistently in the middle part of the season when Chelsea gained crucial points for the Champions League race. 

4. 2018-19 at Borussia Dortmund

His last season in Germany before moving to the Premier League. Under Lucien Favre and despite some injuries that forced him out for a lot of games, Pulisic was able to honor his last year at the club and scored seven goals in all competitions. Chelsea signed Pulisic in January 2019 but decided to loan him out to Dortmund for other six months, where he finished second in the league behind Bayern Munich. With Pulisic on the right and Jadon Sancho playing on the left wing of the attacking line, Borussia Dortmund showed some of the best football around Europe that season. 

3. 2016-17 at Borussia Dortmund

The 2016-17 season at Borussia Dortmund was the one that put Pulisic at the level of the big stars of European soccer. After making his debut in January 2016 against Ingolstadt, Pulisic played his first full season under Thomas Tuchel and played 43 games, scoring five in all competitions. Despite the young age, Tuchel trusted the talent of Pulisic and made him a starter under him that season. He also assisted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the deciding 2-1 goal against Eintracht Frankfurt in the final of the DFB Pokal in Berlin. From that moment on, the hype around the American winger only increased and led to his Chelsea move two years later. 

2. 2023-24 at AC Milan 

Let's talk about this season that is about to end. Looking purely at the numbers, this is the best season of Pulisic since he started to play professional soccer. With 15 goals scored in 48 games, the USMNT winger only missed two Serie A games due to injuries. When Pulisic arrived at AC Milan in the summer of 2023, there were some questions regarding his involvement in the team, since Samuel Chukwueze was expected to be the starter on the right attacking wing, and Pulisic could become an option to replace Rafael Leao or Chukwueze himself in the rotations of the manager. But this is not enough to make it his best season, because soccer is not an individual sport and putting this into the bigger picture, AC Milan had a disappointing season that will also lead to coach Pioli leaving the club in the summer. The Rossoneri will end the season without winning a trophy, and this is the only reason why we can't state that it was Pulisic best season of his career up to now.  

1. 2020-21 at Chelsea

To follow the logic of what was explained above, the 2020-21 season at Chelsea was the best one so far in his career despite it really wasn't in terms of numbers and injuries. After the club sacked Frank Lampard and appointed Tuchel, Chelsea completely changed the course of their season and ended up winning the Champions League final against Manchester City. Pulisic scored six goals in 43 Games in all comPetitions and had a difficult start to the season where he was injured most of the time. When he was back in form, he could help the team to achieve one of the biggest successes in their History, as he also scored the opening goal in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals against Real Madrid, arguably the most important goal of his career so far.