GdS: Pulisic and Gimenez to remain at Milanello during break – the plan for Rabiot

Christian Pulisic and Santiago Gimenez will forego international action to stay at Milanello and get back towards 100%.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, Pulisic will return to training with the team either today or on Thursday. He is not among USA coach Mauricio Pochettino’s preliminary squad for the two friendlies against Paraguay on November 15th and Uruguay on the 19th.

The forward – who hopes to return to the starting line-up immediately versus Parma on Saturday – will remain in Milan during the upcoming international break, allowing him to fully prepare for the derby against Inter on the 23rd.

Gimenez (not among the preliminary squad for Mexico) is also struggling with an ankle problem. El Bebote announced on his Instagram profile that he will be taking time off for treatment and will therefore not be playing at the Stadio Tardini.

He wrote: “For several months. I’ve been playing with an ankle injury that hasn’t allowed me to be 100% fit or comfortable on the pitch. I’ve continued to help the team with determination, but the pain has increased. The time has come to stop and focus on recovery and getting back as soon as possible.”

Necessary caution

The last international match was costly for Milan as Pulisic, Pervis Estupinan and Adrien Rabiot returned with injuries. As mentioned, the American will return in Parma, while the former Brighton man was on the bench against Roma.

As for Rabiot, the Frenchman is pushing to return as early as Saturday. However, he has been included by Deschamps in the Blues’ preliminary for the World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

Milan, obviously, would prefer him to remain in Italy to safely recover from the soleus muscle injury in his left calf, which has already kept him out of the games against Fiorentina, Pisa, Atalanta and Roma in recent weeks.

The delicate nature of the muscle problem could lead the Rossoneri to postpone Rabiot’s return until the derby, thus also convincing France to allow the midfielder to fully recover in Italy.