How Will Samuel Chukwueze Help Fulham and Why Did AC Milan Let the Nigerian Winger Go?

With seven goals and three assists in 47 games, Samuel Chukwueze has already established himself as an exciting regular on the wings for the Nigerian national team. Following an incredible rise to prominence with Villarreal, AC Milan brought him to Italy in the summer of 2023.

This summer, Premier League outfit Fulham opted to loan the winger with an option to buy. The loan-to-buy route is being used a lot in the English division to help with financial fair play restraints, so that aspect doesn’t weigh too much into working out why this deal was made. Even so, Chukwueze joins two other Nigerian stars in London.

Serie A Struggles for Chukwueze

It’s easy to see why AC Milan bought Chukwueze back in 2023. Across 207 games, he scored 37 goals and 29 assists, having made it through their B team to battle in La Liga. With one appearance in the bag to start 2025/26 with the Italian club, Chukwueze had scored eight goals and set up six more in 70 games.

Expected to continue to improve and increase his output, his time at the San Siro didn’t bring the consistency many expected for the 26-year-old. Even so, his raw athleticism and ability to move the ball and draw fouls continue to make him an interesting prospect. The left-footer who primarily operates on the right showed this in his one AC Milan game.

In a 2-1 home loss to Cremonese, the Nigerian was given 25 minutes of football. In that time, he was fouled three times, completed a dribble and 13 passes, and sent a cross into the box. The main challenge he faced was strong competition for places.

Alexis Saelemaekers, Christian Pulisic, and Rafael Leão are all established and superb wingers in the AC Milan ranks. Then, the club added to their forward corps by paying some €42 million for Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku. Capable of playing anywhere across the front three, Nkunku’s arrival put a huge dent in Chukwueze’s hopes of regular starts for the Rossoneri.

Adding to Fulham’s Attacking Threat

At the time of writing, before Chukwueze’s debut for the club, Fulham sat 11th in the Premier League table with a distinctly middling one win, one loss, and two draws in four games. With just three goals scored in that stretch, Fulham looked in need of more attacking options.

Perfectly illustrated by the odds available for an outright sport bet, Fulham sit at 5.50 to get relegated. In this market, to finish in the bottom three, only Brentford, West Ham United, Leeds United, Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Burnley have shorter odds. Clearly, the bookies thought that more was needed.

Something that may have spurred Fulham on to add to their attack is the Chelsea game. Two VAR decisions saw Fulham denied a goal and, quite possibly, the win against Chelsea. The 2-0 loss was a particular stinger, especially because Fulham created so many other chances but just couldn’t put the ball away again.

Chukwueze will hopefully add some lightning to the wings. If played on the left, he could pump crosses into big targets like Raúl Jiménez from the by-line, or cut inside to deliver threatening balls if deployed on the right. Importantly, he could also tap into his national team rapport with Alex Iwobi floating around midfield and Calvin Bassey commanding the backline.

If he can hit the ground running, the swift, fleet-footed creative outlet that is Samuel Chukwueze could prove to be an important spark for Fulham’s attack as they look to climb further from the relegation battle.