Chukwueze in line for third Milan start

Samuel Chukwueze will start his third match for AC Milan as Coach Paulo Fonseca rings changes in his starting XI for Saturday’s Serie A visit by Udinese.

There are growing reports that the gaffer will drop Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham to the bench and bring in Noah Okafor, while Pulisic plays in a more central trequartista role and Samuel Chukwueze on the right.

The 25-year-old Nigeria forward, who has just returned from a nightmarish Libya trip with the Super Eagles, has taken part in every one of their seven Serie A games in 2024/2025 and played 184 minutes, being selected in the starting XI in two of these and used as a substitute on five occasions.

He played just eight minutes in his last outing with the Rossoneri in their 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina on October 6. He is still searching for his first goal of the campaign. He scored one and rendered three assists in 24 matches last season following his summer arrival from Villarreal.

The Rossoneri badly need a boost after their 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina, a game that continues to cause controversy after both Theo Hernandez and Abraham had their penalties parried by David De Gea.

The fact neither spot-kick was taken by Pulisic irritated the coach, so with Theo Hernandez sitting out a two-match ban for insulting the referee, Abraham should be benched in favour of Alvaro Morata.

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