GdS: ‘Wake up or goodbye’ – why Gimenez has two months to earn Milan stay

As the clock ticks by, Santiago Gimenez remains without a league goal for the season, and eventually he might run out of time.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, a quarter of the season has practically gone by and Gimenez hasn’t scored a single goal in Serie A. He’s spent 627 minutes on the pitch, over ten hours of play, but hasn’t scored a single goal: an eternity for striker.

No goals, declining service

There are eight games to go in the league before the new year, including the derby which has special powers. A goal against Inter after the November break would quickly make people forget about the games without one.

Yet, there is an obvious question: how can a striker score when he doesn’t shoot? Gimenez has two months to convince the club that he deserves to remain, knowing that the management were trying to offload him right until the end of the summer window.

The physical issues that Rafael Leao, Christopher Nkunku and Christian Pulisic have all battled is the reason Santi has started eight of the nine Serie A games. The only game he didn’t start was against Fiorentina, so Allegri had someone on the bench to come on and change the game.

Gimenez justified the strategy and repaid the faith with selfless performances and sacrifices for the team. The penalty against Fiorentina – which Leao took – was earned by Gimenez. However, since then things have not gone as well.

His service to the team was lacking both against Pisa and two days ago against Atalanta, and he looks as far away as ever from scoring. In Bergamo, the Mexican did not even have a shot at goal, and he didn’t do the other bits well either.

In less than half the time available, Loftus-Cheek recovered the same number of balls (3), won more aerial duels (2 to 0) and drew the same number of fouls. Against Roma Gimenez is doubtful, both due to a sore ankle and the increasing competition.

Time running out?

To find the only time Gimenez scored in 2025-26, we have to go back to the end of September and the Coppa Italia match against Lecce. It is his only goal of the season so far for his club, while he also got one for Mexico in a friendly.

Since joining Milan, he’s scored six other times in 30 total games: one in the Champions League against his old club Feyenoord, and five in the league (against Empoli, Verona, Venezia and two against Bologna).

Milan had counted on his impressive CV of 65 goals in 105 appearances for Feyenoord to fire them into the top four, and to take them further in the 2024-25 edition of the UCL. The winter transfer window is approaching, and for Santi, it could be another key moment in his career.

His time with Milan is really running out, with performances like this. Allegri publicly defends Gimenez, as is natural given he is the only striker in the squad, but as the winter window gets closer the risk of separation grows.