Yunus Musah is back in his hometown of New York and reflects on his passion for travel, which led him to play in English, Spanish and Italian clubs at the age of 21.

“I think I have a lot of influence from my father,” says the AC Milan midfielder about his father Ibrahim, who left Ghana at a young age to find more security in northern Italy. “He left when he was 16. He tells me stories about it. It’s very inspiring. We have a great life in Europe now. You have to give him credit for going through all that to get us to where we are today with much less money (than we have now).”

What are these stories about?

“The stories of the migrants. He had to do a lot of things – for example, when he was in Italy, he slept in cars and outdoors. He would cycle two hours from work – there and back, so four hours. Then (as he became more successful) he switched to a motorbike and finally to a car. That was before I was born.

“But it just makes me really grateful. Sometimes it just really grounds me. Why do you complain about little things when your dad went through that? It’s very eye-opening. I’m very grateful.”

As Musah reclines in the garden of a New York hotel where AC Milan has been staying during its pre-season tour of the United States, there is much to ponder. In Milan, he has a new coach, Paulo Fonseca, who has forced his players to do tough double training sessions in the scorching east coast heat. Milan begin their Serie A campaign today (Saturday) at home to Torino, hoping to improve on last season’s second-place finish and a 19-point gap to city rivals Inter Milan, while also hoping to progress in the Champions League.

Musah, who joined Milan last summer for $22.1 million (£17.1 million), had a modest first season at the club, starting 13 Serie A games. He is yet to score his first goal for the club. Milan’s team also includes his international teammate Christian Pulisic, while legendary former striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic acts as an advisor to club owner RedBird and attends training twice a week.

Musah plays for Milan in preseason (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

“(Zlatan) has a presence,” Musah says. “It’s nice. He comes to talk to us. He’s a great mentor. Everyone knows what it’s like – he’s demanding and pushes you. He says: ‘We’re in Milan, we have to win. It’s not enough to win some games and not others. Everyone wants to come to this club, so our places here are not guaranteed.’ Things like that keep you on your toes.”

This season, the USMNT midfielder says he would “like to have a lot of prominence.” He adds: “I would like to play as many games, be really involved, score goals – all the good stuff. Every season you start with ambitions and things you want to improve. I also want titles.”

He says Fonseca has already improved him. “It’s a lot of information,” says Musah, a little tired after a hard morning session working on his legs in the gym and then on the field. “I’m learning a lot, he’s helping me with my posture, receiving the ball, connecting with the center backs, he’s just helping me to be able to play with the ball as a midfielder; to receive it and pass it on.”

The best youth coaches in Europe

There has been some speculation that Musah might move on. “I see myself here this season, the manager hasn’t kicked me out,” he says, laughing. “So I’m going to stay here and I’m going to work so hard to play a lot of games and really make an impression.”

For Musah, it was a long, circuitous journey to the top of European football. His mother gave birth to him during a family visit in New York, making him eligible to play for the US national team.

His parents are from Ghana. They lived in Castelfranco Veneto, a small town in northern Italy, until he was nine years old, before moving to London. When it came to choosing an international team, he had the choice between the USA, England, Ghana and Italy. The USA won that battle, thanks in large part to a charm offensive by former coach Gregg Berhalter and his assistant Nico Estevez, who lured Musah back to his birth country.

Musah, now 21, speaks very wistfully about his earliest memories of his time as a football player in Italy.

“My mother had an oriental shop,” he remembers. “We lived in an apartment block. Our house is up there.”

He points up. “And the store was downstairs. There was a little park on the side, and we played in the park all summer. And when we were tired, we would go into the store and get something to drink because it had a Coca-Cola fridge, and then we would go back out.”

Berhalter played a key role in Musah’s play for the USMNT (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Outside the house he spoke Italian, but at home the family spoke Hausa, a Chadic language spoken in his Ghanaian community.

The layout of the shop is still alive. “African food – yams, banana chips. Back then, there were phone booths in the shops, so she had those too. I never saw anything financially as a child. And I felt like we were rich. We weren’t – but my parents made it seem that way. We got everything we needed as far as food went. I didn’t worry about clothes or anything, but when I look back, we just had what we needed. And my parents never made us feel like we didn’t have money. But the reality was that they were always struggling and always working very hard. There were five of us to support ourselves. They are incredible people.”

Did his parents want him to become a footballer?

“No,” he says. “My parents just wanted me to get a good education, which they couldn’t do. They wanted me to get an education that would obviously help me get a good job. I also played football because I just loved it. And when things got more serious, they saw that there was a possibility. Then they pushed me too.”

His family is devout Muslims and Musah attributes his success to his faith. “It’s everything,” he says. “It’s a huge role. I truly believe that without God I wouldn’t be in this position because there are millions of people who work hard and are just not meant for certain positions, even though they probably work harder than me. They have their own path. This is my path and I’m grateful for it. And I really have to appreciate that this was chosen for me.”

Things got more serious when the family moved to east London when he was nine. He was spotted by Arsenal, joined the club’s academy and became close friends with current England international Bukayo Saka.

“The other players were ahead of me,” he says. “They had played there before and were more technically gifted than me. And I just had to work hard. And eventually I became one of the best. Bukayo is doing the same things now as he did at academy level – and he’s doing them even better now, even though it’s harder at senior level.”

“The difference is that he didn’t play right-back when he was younger. He played left-back and left wing. That’s impressive. He’s improved too, it’s crazy. Sometimes you see players do better in the youth teams because it’s easier. But then he’s actually better in the men’s game. He stands out even more now.”

Musah soon caught up with his peers, playing in the England youth age groups. A team line-up sheet from February 2017 recently went viral on social media, with Musah captaining an England U15 team against Belgium. The line-up included current Chelsea players Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer, while Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham and Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala (who later played for Germany) started on the bench.

“I’m not surprised at the level they’re playing at,” Musah says. “What surprised me was the growth spurts of these three players – Cole, Jude and Jamal. They were small players before, and now they’ve all shot up and are bigger than me. But player-wise, I’m not surprised at all.”

At the age of 16, Musah made a brave and unexpected decision: he left Arsenal, even though the club did not want him to leave. Where did the courage come from?

“I just wanted to pursue my passion and my goals. I also had confidence. I believe in God – those things together make me feel like I can make big decisions.”

He moved to the Spanish club Valencia. Why?

Musah made the jump to Valencia’s first team (David Ramos/Getty Images)

“I was 16. I felt like I could at least start training with the first team. I probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance at Arsenal. So I was ready to go anywhere that gave me a chance at a good level. I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, OK, I’m going to make this decision.’ And whether it starts well or not, I’m going to stick with it until it works out for me. And luckily, it worked out in the end.”

Did he have a wide choice of clubs? “I had a lot of options. I could have actually gone to any English club. Valencia offered me the best path. Valencia also promoted a lot of young players. They had the most convincing project. And I’m so grateful that I went there. It was incredible.”

Valencia kept his word. After a year with the club’s B team, Musah made 108 appearances for Valencia’s first team over three seasons, scoring five goals. He also made Berhalter’s squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he started all four games. His role in this summer’s Copa America was more modest, starting only the final group match against Uruguay after Tim Weah was red-carded in the USMNT’s loss to Panama.

“We have obviously learned a lot, both personally and collectively,” Musah reflects.

Like for example?

“Managing games. I didn’t play a big role in this Copa America, but when I did, I don’t think I had as much influence as I should have. You don’t get chances like that very often, so you have to influence when you get them. That’s what I have to learn.

“From a team perspective, you just have to give everything in games like the one against Bolivia and the one against Panama, against rivals that you should win. You have to beat them. It’s as simple as that.”

However, the Copa had a result, because Berhalter was sacked.

“It was tough to see Gregg go,” Musah said. “He was the manager that brought me in. Great manager, great guy. So it was very sad to see that. Hopefully the next manager can be as good as Greg and help us achieve great things.”

(Top photo: John Todd/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)