Santiago Gimenez: From Feyenoord Star to Milan's Struggles
Santiago Gimenez arrived at San Siro carrying numbers that usually buy patience. And fear.
At Feyenoord he had been a ruthless finisher, 65 goals in 105 games, back‑to‑back seasons beyond the 20-goal mark at De Kuip. Premier League clubs circled, agents took calls, presentations were made. He turned them down. The boy who grew up watching the red and black chose Milan.
The move felt romantic and logical all at once. A classic No. 9 with a penalty-box edge joining a club built on great centre-forwards. A fan in the stands now in the shirt. It was easy to imagine him thriving under the lights of San Siro.
Reality has been harsher.
From Rotterdam certainty to Milan doubt
Gimenez did find the net six times after landing in Italy, a respectable return for a mid-season arrival learning a new league and a new dressing room. Those around him put the quieter spells down to adaptation, the usual turbulence that comes with leaving a professional comfort zone.
Then his body turned on him.
In his first full campaign in Serie A, injuries ripped through any rhythm he tried to build. Five months gone. Five months of watching, of rehab, of training sessions without the ball at his feet in anger. By the end of the season, his tally stood at a single Coppa Italia goal. For a striker who had devoured chances in the Netherlands, it felt like another player’s stat line.
Milan’s own decline only deepened the sense of drift. The team misfired, questions piled up around senior figures, and now Massimiliano Allegri is on his way out as the club prepares yet another reset. In that swirl of uncertainty, Gimenez’s name has inevitably surfaced when talk turns to possible departures.
Borgetti’s verdict: not just on the No. 9
Jared Borgetti knows what it means to carry Mexico’s goalscoring hopes. The country’s second-highest scorer watched Gimenez’s first year in Italy and saw a bigger picture than just an out-of-form striker.
“Unfortunately, the move to Italy hasn't been a good year for Santiago, but it's not solely due to the player or his problems,” he told GOAL while speaking on behalf of 10bet. “I think his injury has also played a significant role in preventing him from achieving consistency, competing for a starting position, and reaching the level he showed in the Netherlands.
“I believe Milan as a whole hasn't been performing well, and when a team isn't playing well, no player can truly stand out. To say that any player stood out at Milan this season, I think we'd be exaggerating or just saying it for the sake of it, so, I don't think the team helped much either.
“He’s a player who needs the team to be playing well, for the system of play to suit his style, so that he can have scoring opportunities and create plenty of chances for the team to capitalise on. I do think the dip in form is partly due to him, partly due to the team, and obviously, the atmosphere also ends up affecting his individual performances.”
The diagnosis is blunt but fair. Gimenez is not the all‑action forward who forges his own chaos from nothing; he is the striker who punishes good service. Milan have not provided much of that.
A fan in the shirt, not on the edge
The one thing that has not cracked is his attachment to the club. For Gimenez, this is not just another contract.
“I have supported Milan since I was a child, so finding myself playing in that stadium that I could only see on television means a great deal to me,” he told Billboard Italia. “The fans welcomed me with so much affection and, despite the fact I have not yet performed as I would have liked, they continue to push me and trust me. Like a family.”
That bond matters. San Siro can be unforgiving, yet the crowd has not turned on him with the ferocity others have felt. There is still a sense that he belongs, that the story has not yet been written off as a mistake.
His deal runs until the summer of 2029. Milan must decide whether to double down on their investment or cut their losses. Gimenez, though, is already looking at another stage to reset the narrative.
World Cup stage, home soil, bold promise
The 2026 World Cup offers the kind of platform that can flip a career. For Gimenez, it will not just be a global tournament; it will be home.
“When you wear the national team jersey, you represent an entire country, so you have a huge responsibility, but at the same time, it’s a wonderful thing,” he said of leading Mexico on home soil. “I know that Mexico, with its people, is very strong at home. I’m convinced it will be a great World Cup. Mexico will win, and I’ll be the top scorer!”
It is an audacious claim, but it captures where his mindset sits: under pressure, but unbowed.
Mexico open the tournament at the Azteca Stadium against South Africa on Thursday, with Gimenez in line to spearhead the attack. South Korea and Czechia follow in Group A, fixtures that will test El Tri’s ambitions and their centre-forward’s nerve.
For Milan, that World Cup is more than a spectacle to watch from afar. A confident, goalscoring Gimenez returning from a deep run with Mexico would walk back into San Siro as a different figure: not the injured signing still searching for his place, but a striker who has just carried a nation.
If he delivers on that promise, the debate over his future in Italy will sound very different.
