From vivid flashes of promise in the Ruhr to hype and stagnation in West London — Christian Pulisic’s vacillating European tour will aim for revival in Lombardy, northern Italy. Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, now AC Milan. The 24-year-old’s CV remains superficially impressive, albeit with growing question marks over whether he can recapture the magic which persuaded the Premier League club to pay £58million ($74.8m) for him back in 2019.

He had already struggled for form and minutes in his final season at Dortmund, having previously shone, and — on the whole —  that pattern continued in the Premier League. As the USMNT player jetted into Italy to undertake a medical on Wednesday, the forward’s immediate objective could not have been clearer: he has to make a success of this move to Milan.