Santiago Gimenez: From Feyenoord Star to Milan Struggler
Santiago Gimenez arrived at San Siro carrying numbers that usually buy you patience. Feyenoord’s penalty-box predator, 65 goals in 105 games, back-to-back 20-goal seasons at De Kuip. A striker who had outgrown the Eredivisie and seemed destined for the next tier of European forwards.
He chose Milan. Not the richest offer, not the easiest league, but the club he had supported as a child. Premier League interest circled and was waved away. The boyhood Rossoneri fan wanted the real thing: the San Siro, the shirt, the pressure.
The script, on paper, looked perfect. The reality has been anything but.
From Rotterdam rhythm to Milan turbulence
Gimenez did find the net early on in Italy. Six goals after his February 2025 move hinted at a smooth transition. The touch was still there, the movement still sharp, the penalty area still his natural habitat.
Yet the spark never quite caught. The fluid, confident striker from Rotterdam looked like a player still searching for the right tempo, the right angles, the right understanding with those around him. The explanation seemed simple enough at first: new country, new league, new demands. Even elite forwards can take time to adapt when they leave their comfort zone.
Then came the real blow. Injury.
His first full season in Serie A was shredded by fitness problems. Five months out for a centre-forward who thrives on rhythm and repetition is brutal. Training ground sharpness disappears, match instincts dull, confidence frays. By the end of the campaign, his return read just one goal in the Coppa Italia. For a man who had feasted in front of goal in the Netherlands, that number cut deep.
It did not help that Milan themselves were stumbling.
Massimiliano Allegri is on his way out, senior players are under scrutiny, and the club is braced for another reset. In that climate, every underperforming asset is suddenly a question mark. Gimenez is no exception. A move has already been floated in the background, the idea of a “fresh start” gathering momentum.
Borgetti’s verdict: not just on the striker
In Mexico, the debate has a different tone. Jared Borgetti, the country’s second-highest all-time goalscorer, knows the weight of the No. 9 shirt and the realities of European football. Asked whether Gimenez would be better served moving on, he cut through the easy narrative that the forward alone has failed.
“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. He pointed straight at the injury that disrupted Gimenez’s season, and the impact it had on his ability to fight for a starting spot and reproduce his Feyenoord form.
Then he widened the lens.
“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,” he said. To single out a star performer from this Rossoneri season, in Borgetti’s view, would be dressing up a poor campaign. The collective, he argued, has dragged down the individual.
For a striker like Gimenez, that context is crucial. Borgetti described him as a player who needs a functioning system, a team that creates and sustains pressure, a structure that gives him regular looks at goal. When the football around him breaks down, the chances dry up and the confidence follows. Form, in his eyes, has been a mix of personal responsibility, team failings and the general atmosphere around the club.
A fan in the shirt
Through it all, Gimenez has tried to hold his line. No sulking, no public agitation, no distancing himself from the club that took the gamble. Instead, he has leaned into the emotional side of the move.
“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 words carried the weight of someone who knows this opportunity is bigger than one bad year.
He spoke warmly of the supporters as well. The Curva Sud has not turned on him with the same ferocity it has reserved for others in recent years.
“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,” he said.
That bond might be his strongest ally. Contracts can be torn up, coaches can be replaced, systems can be rewritten. A fanbase that still believes you might be worth the wait is rare currency at a club of Milan’s scale.
His deal runs until the summer of 2029. On paper, there is time. In reality, elite clubs do not wait forever.
World Cup stage, Azteca spotlight
If Gimenez needs a jolt of momentum, it is coming in the most intense form possible: a World Cup on Mexican soil, and the opening game at the Azteca.
Mexico will launch the 2026 tournament against South Africa in Mexico City, with Gimenez in line to lead the attack in front of a stadium he grew up dreaming about. Then come South Korea and Czechia in Group A. For a striker searching for rhythm and authority, it is both an opportunity and a test of nerve.
“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 when asked about the tournament. He talked up Mexico’s strength at home, the power of the people, the belief that the country can ride that wave.
Then he went further, stripping away any hint of caution.
“I’m convinced it will be a great World Cup. Mexico will win, and I’ll be the top scorer!”
It is a bold promise, the kind that can define a career or haunt it. Yet it tells you where his head is: not in survival mode, not in quiet rehabilitation, but aiming straight at the biggest individual and collective prizes on offer.
If he catches fire this summer, the narrative flips overnight. A World Cup golden boot contender returning to Milan with his confidence restored is a very different proposition to an injured, misfiring forward clinging to past glories in Rotterdam.
The stakes are clear. Shine for El Tri, drag Mexico deep into the knockout rounds, and he walks back through the doors at Milanello with leverage, swagger and proof that the Feyenoord numbers were no illusion. Falter, and the whispers about a move away from San Siro will grow louder.
For Santiago Gimenez, the next chapter starts not in Italy but under the Azteca lights. What he does there will decide whether his dream of conquering Milan is merely delayed, or quietly slipping away.
