United States and AC Milan midfielder Yunus Musah's target for the next year is as clear as it is ambitious.
"The nearest goals and achievement for me are winning trophies here at Milan," he tells ESPN. "This season we have the possibility to win three trophies [Serie A, Coppa Italia, Italian Supercoppa]. I'd love to win all three of them. And also then go to the national team and win more trophies as well."
So, a club treble in Italy followed by the FIFA World Cup? "That's it!"
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The likelihood of that scenario becoming reality has been tested at both club and international level this summer. As Musah sits down in his Milan home for an interview on ESPN's "The Football Reporters" podcast, there are two pressing issues to address. Firstly, the reason for his omission from the USMNT squad which reached last month's Concacaf Gold Cup final, losing narrowly 2-1 to Mexico. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino said Musah had "communicated to us a personal reason, so he needed to withdraw from involvement." What was it?
"Honestly, I was gutted that I couldn't go to the Gold Cup," says Musah. "The coaches were all disappointed that I didn't go but ultimately I needed to make that decision for myself because I needed to switch off after a tough season. I needed that time off. Ultimately it was to take that period off then so that I could be in good shape to be able to carry on now the whole season and be able to give my best for club and the national team."
It was a decision criticised by some but in an era where concerns over player welfare are often voiced but rarely acted upon, the 22-year-old took charge of his situation.
"It was a very tough decision because people could easily say 'everyone else is playing, why aren't you?' But no one else is in my body, no one else is in my head," Musah adds. "Everyone that knows me knows I am honest and a hardworking guy but when times are like how they were and I couldn't carry on playing for that summer, I had to take that decision for myself.
"No one else knows how I feel and I hope that people understood my decision and it was about taking care of myself and being able to come back ultimately and be able to give my best for the rest of the season."
Musah now looks likely to begin that task at Milan despite encountering difficulties since Massimiliano Allegri replaced Sérgio Conceição as head coach in May. The following month, Milan sporting director Igli Tare claimed Musah "doesn't have the characteristics" to play in Allegri's preferred three-man midfield, hinting strongly at his departure.
Napoli, Nottingham Forest and, most recently, Atlanta have all been tracking Musah but, amid reports that Allegri is more inclined to utilize him this season, remaining in Italy is clearly the player's focus.
"I am happy at Milan," he says. "It is a great club. I'd love to win some great things here. It felt really nice winning the Super Cup last season so I'd love to win more things. This is what we're expected to do here. I am just happy here and I am looking to work hard and be a main player in the team."
Musah joined Milan from Valencia in 2023, finishing second in his first season with the club. The Rossoneri beat Paris Saint-Germain at home and Newcastle United away in the UEFA Champions League, but missed out on qualification for the knockout phase on goal difference, dropping down to the Europa League where they exited at the quarterfinal stage to AS Roma. Last season was tougher, finishing eighth in Serie A but winning the Italian Supercoppa and reaching the final of the Coppa Italia, losing 1-0 to Bologna in Rome.
He has had Christian Pulisic, who arrived in the same summer two years ago, for company and the USMNT pair have become closer over time.
"We've actually bonded very well since both joining AC Milan," Musah says. "Before that, we weren't so close but now I'd say we are quite close. I get to learn a lot from him every day and in the matches. He has had a great seasons here. I am just learning off him. He's a great guy so I am enjoying playing with Christian."
Musah's positive and measured response to recent challenges is indicative of a player who has long demonstrated bravery beyond his years, right back to when he turned down a new contract at Arsenal to join Valencia in 2019 aged just 16.
"My parents weren't so keen because it wasn't like Arsenal were releasing me or anything," says Musah, who was born in New York City to Ghanaian parents before moving to Italy and then to London aged nine. "I was making a bold decision to leave a club that still wanted me, to go to another country to gamble if I was going to make it out there or not. It was a big decision but I felt really good about it because I felt confident that I was at the level and I was capable of getting into the first team like I hoped.
"There were a few hard things in that process, like convincing my parents and then settling in at Valencia, settling in with the language, the style of play, new people, new surroundings. But ultimately, with hard work, patience and lots of prayer and everything, things turned out well."
His Muslim faith is extremely important to him.
"When you go through good moments, you thank God and when you go through bad moments you thank God as well because I think everything happens for a reason," he says. "When tough things happen to me, I might dwell on them for a minutes but afterwards I understand there is a bigger purpose. I don't take anything to heart, I don't take anything too deeply."
And yet, talking his parents around was not easy. "[There were] a lot of months of just not giving up on it," he continues. "There were a lot of months that I just kept on pushing it, convincing them and going on and on and on about it. Ultimately, we managed to convince them somehow. My brother [Abdul] was with me, he was on my side and we managed to convince them."
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Musah cites Mesut Özil and Yaya Touré as inspirations growing up watching the Premier League and remains fond of Arsenal -- friends, even, with several current players including Bukayo Saka. He reached out to in support after the England winger was racially abused following the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy in which Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho all missed in the penalty shootout.
"I'm always rooting for them since I left until now," he says. "Arsenal is really embedded in me. I always support them. I have friends that play in that team. It is nice to see my old friends doing well, doing really well actually. I am just supportive of the team that helped me get to where I am today."
Musah simply saw a quicker route to first-team football in Spain. "When I left Arsenal for Valencia, I told myself that if things turned out to be not great or anything, I wouldn't think 'what if I went back to Arsenal?' I would stick to the plan until it worked," he said.
And work it did. So much so that international teams began circling by the time he was 17 with his nomadic life to that point creating eligibility for four nations: Ghana, the U.S., England and Italy. Musah played for four England age groups up to the under-18s but first contact by the USMNT came in 2020 through assistant Nico Estévez, who had connections at Valencia after eight years working at the LaLiga club. Then Gregg Berhalter, head coach of the USMNT for five years across two spells, began his charm offensive.
"Gregg called me and that was really huge for a 17-year-old to get a call from the men's national team coach," Musah says. "It was amazing. He was very nice. He was very keen to have me amongst the group and he made it feel really easy. He said there were no strings attached, I could just come to the camp, see what it's like, enjoy it and that's what I did. I never looked back.
"It was a tough decision. I had a lot of options, which is a good thing. And also I had an amazing time with the England setup. I went to so many camps, played with great players, great coaches and ultimately I started my career playing in Valencia's first team and then Gregg called me to play for the [U.S.] men's first team as a 17-year-old. It was a huge opportunity I couldn't turn down and I've been loving every minute since."
Musah went on to play at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and would win that year's U.S. Soccer Young Player of the Year award. Berhalter has since been replaced -- via interim stints for B.J Callaghan and Mikey Varas -- by Pochettino, who led a run to the final of the Gold Cup earlier this summer in Musah's absence.
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"I have a lot of love for Gregg," Musah says. "So, so grateful for all the opportunities. I had most of my caps under Gregg. We have a great manager again now so I am lucky to be able to play under two great managers. Now I'm just learning under Mauricio.
"First of all, we train very hard. We work very hard in training so that we are prepared in matches to be able to play at that intensity. He is very keen on the energy we bring out on the field and how much we want it. That's something that we have to bring back in our team, the fire we bring into matches that helped us in a lot of games against the big teams.
"Sometimes it is about who wants it more. Mauricio is trying to get that fire in us and make sure when teams come to play us they have a really tough time."
And Pochettino, formerly head coach Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, is not shying away from the expectation of the biggest tournament of all on the horizon: next year's home men's World Cup, hosted along with Mexico and Canada.
"Us as players, we go into every tournament believing we can win it," Musah says. "That's the beauty of football. We are a very talented group in a tournament where there are huge players, huge teams who are probably way more expected to win the tournament.
"But we've seen it time and time again where you can say the underdog goes on and does it. We go into the tournament with that belief. I think if you go into the tournament thinking you are not going to win it is quite pointless, so we will go into the tournament thinking we can do it and give our fans, ourselves, our families, the best satisfaction we can.
"I know that non-football fans, celebrities, you name it, are going to be behind the team just because we are the U.S.. They are very proud to support anyone that's from the U.S.. We are going to have so much support, we are going to feel it and it is going to drive us to do great things, I'm sure."