Santiago Gimenez: From Feyenoord Star to Milan Struggles

Santiago Gimenez arrived at San Siro as if shot out of a cannon.

By the time Milan signed him from Feyenoord in February 2025, the numbers told a ruthless story: 65 goals in 105 games, back‑to‑back seasons beyond the 20-goal mark, and a reputation as one of Europe’s most efficient finishers. Premier League clubs circled. Others on the continent made their pitch. He chose Milan, and not just for the badge on the contract.

He chose the club he had supported as a boy.

From Rotterdam certainty to Milan doubt

In Rotterdam, everything seemed built for him. The service, the rhythm, the confidence. Gimenez thrived as the penalty-box predator, the man to finish off flowing moves at De Kuip.

In Milan, the script changed.

He did score six times after landing in Serie A, a respectable return for a mid-season arrival in a new league and a new country. Yet the performances never quite matched the promise. His movement was there, the work rate was there, but the spark that defined him in the Netherlands flickered rather than burned.

The easy explanation was adaptation. New language, new teammates, new tactical demands. A striker stepping out of his comfort zone rarely looks like himself straight away.

Then came the injuries.

His first full campaign in Italy disintegrated under the weight of physical setbacks. Five months on the sidelines stripped away rhythm, match sharpness, and the instinctive timing that separates a confident No. 9 from one second-guessing every run. By the end of the season, he had just a single Coppa Italia goal to show for his efforts. For a man who once scored for fun, the drought cut deep.

All this played out against a club in flux. Massimiliano Allegri heading for the exit. Senior figures under scrutiny. A squad searching for an identity and rarely finding it.

Borgetti’s verdict: not just on the player

In Mexico, the situation has been watched with a mix of concern and understanding. Jared Borgetti, the country’s second-highest goalscorer of all time, sees a bigger picture than just a misfiring 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,” Borgetti told GOAL, 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 assessment is blunt, but fair. Gimenez has not hit his level. Milan have not either. A classic case of a striker and a club failing to lift each other.

With another reset under way at San Siro and transfer talk beginning to swirl around several names, the idea of a fresh start for Gimenez has naturally surfaced. For now, it remains just that: an idea.

A boyhood dream under strain

What keeps him anchored is not only his contract, which runs until 2029, but the emotional pull of the shirt.

“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 detail matters. San Siro can be unforgiving, yet the crowd has not turned on him with the ferocity others have felt. The sense around the club is that the story is incomplete, that the true version of Gimenez has not yet walked out in red and black.

To unlock that version, he may need to step away from Milan for a few weeks and into a very different kind of pressure.

World Cup stage, home soil, huge words

The 2026 World Cup offers him exactly that escape and that challenge. Not just a World Cup, but a World Cup on Mexican soil, with Mexico involved in the opening game at the Azteca Stadium against South Africa.

For a striker searching for conviction, there is no halfway house here. You either embrace the weight of the shirt, or it crushes you.

“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,” Gimenez said. “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 a bold claim, the kind that will be replayed if things go wrong and immortalised if they go right.

Mexico’s path begins with South Africa at the Azteca, then Group A games against South Korea and Czechia. If Gimenez leads the line as expected and finds his range early, the entire mood around his career could tilt in a matter of days.

A strong World Cup would send him back to Milan with momentum, confidence, and a very different conversation around his name. Instead of doubts about his fit, the question becomes how the new Milan will build around a striker who has just carried his country into the knockout rounds.

San Siro is waiting. So are his critics. The next chapter of Santiago Gimenez’s story will be written under the Azteca lights, with a nation behind him and a club in Italy watching, wondering if the forward they thought they were signing is about to finally emerge.