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For the first time in the history of the Italian first division, four American international players are currently on the rosters of Serie A clubs. It's a historic season not only for the United States, but also the Italian league, that are working to expand their brand outside Europe, trying to reach and improve markets such as the American one. More interestingly, the four players are perfectly divided across two of the biggest European teams, Juventus and AC Milan. Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah are playing for the Bianconeri, while Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah joined the Rossoneri in the summer 2023. Let's see how they are performing so far this season: 

Weston McKennie

McKennie has been the best United States men's national team player in Serie A. That's not only because of his performances on the pitch, but also for how it all started. After an unsuccessful spell at Leeds United last season that ended with relegation to the Champioship, he returned to Juventus with the expectations to leave the Bianconeri in the summer. However, coach Massimiliano Allegri worked a lot on him starting from the preseason, and he quickly became a key midfielder for the Italian giants.

McKennie played in multiple positions, as a right winger in the 3-5-2 but also as a central midfielder especially since both Paul Pogba (doping) and Nicolò Fagioli (illegal betting) were suspended and will miss the rest of the current season. He hasn't missed a single minute in the last 12 Serie A games and became, without any doubt, the most functional player for Juventus this season, as the side coached by Allegri are currently fighting to win the Scudetto. However, he will miss his first Serie A game of the season on Tuesday against Sassuolo after he received his fifth yellow card against Salernitana and will be suspended for one match.  


"When we brought Weston McKennie to Leeds, the idea [was] that defensively or against the ball he was going to be a little bit deeper in an eight position, and then with the ball we were going to push him up into the 10 spot," his Leeds coach, Jesse Marsch, said on CBS Sports podcast Call It What You Want. "And you could do something similar where maybe with the way [Gregg] Berhalter likes to play against the ball, with two strikers almost pressing, that Gio Reyna would go and be part of that with the strikers, and he [McKennie] would slip a little bit deeper as the left eight or right eight. Weston, for me, has the flexibility ... to play a bit deeper and it's just encouraging the discipline to understand what to do and where. This is one of the beauties of Weston is his flexibility, I saw it a lot when I was in Germany when he played for Schalke. I saw how he would play as an eight, a six, as a wing back, as a striker, he would play as a lone No. 10, he would play a lot of different positions -- left, right -- he has that flexibility and it's partly because his instincts to play the game are really good and it's just about refining those instincts in a particular role and then maximizing the potential. And at the same time encouraging him to play with freedom and show his quality and creativity, so I think there's potential for him to do that."

Timothy Weah 

After arriving from Lille in the summer 2023 for around €12 million and signing a long-term deal until 2028 with Juventus, Weah's spell at his new club started with some up and downs, in part due to an injury that forced him to miss five games in a row back in November. When he was fit, he started and played well, and he did so in the last two games in a row against AS Roma and Salernitana. It's clear that he probably needs some more time to adapt to a new country and a new way of playing, as Allegri wants him to play as a winger in the 3-5-2. Ironically, the good performances of McKennie also had an impact on him, as he was benched a few times to let his USMNT teammate play in his position. The feeling is that he's improving game after game and he will be even more central in the ideas of Allegri in the last stint of the 2023-24 season. On top of that, he scored a beauty against Salernitana in the Round of 16 of the Coppa Italia: 

Christian Pulisic

Let's take some time to talk about Puli. AC Milan signed Pulisic in the summer for around €22 million from Chelsea, making him a starter under Stefano Pioli this campaign. Pulisic has scored scored six goals and provided five assists in 18 games played in the Italian Serie A. Some goals were crucial as well, like the ones scored away against Genoa in the last minutes of the match or at San Siro against Sassuolo late in December. His impact has been what we expected from him, and luckily he was one of the few AC Milan players who didn't suffer from big injuries. His numbers are really good and the fact that he became one of the stars of the Italian side is probably the best new for the USMNT as well. 

Yunus Musah 

Since his arrival in the summer from Valencia, it quickly became clear enough that AC Milan coach Pioli really liked Musah as he could play him in different positions as midfielder, and not only. The USMNT star in fact played as a defensive midfielder, as an attacking midfielder and when needed also as a defensive winger. A perfect player for Pioli, similar to the role that McKennie is having at Juventus this season. He recently suffered a muscular injury that forced him to miss three Serie A games, and didn't start in the last two either, but the feeling is that he can become more crucial in the upcoming weeks, when AC Milan will have to play in the UEFA Europa League's playoffs and Pioli will need to rotate his players more.