Santiago Gimenez: From Feyenoord Star to Milan's Challenge
Santiago Gimenez arrived at San Siro with numbers that usually travel only in headlines and highlight reels. Sixty-five goals in 105 games for Feyenoord. Back-to-back seasons beyond the 20-goal mark at De Kuip. A penalty-box predator who had outgrown the Eredivisie and was ready, or so it seemed, for Europe’s harsher lights.
He chose Milan when others came calling. Premier League interest circled, offers and ideas floated across the table, but the Mexican striker followed his heart. The boyhood Rossoneri fan went to the stadium he used to watch on television, the shirt he had imagined wearing since childhood. It felt like a football story that writes itself.
The reality has been far more complicated.
From Rotterdam rhythm to Milan doubt
Gimenez’s first months in Italy brought flashes, not a flood. Six goals after his February 2025 move hinted at a smooth transition, but the rhythm he had in the Netherlands never quite translated. The movement was there, the work rate too, yet something in the connection with his new surroundings misfired.
Early on, the explanations sounded familiar: new league, new country, new demands. A player stepping out of his comfort zone rarely looks the finished article straight away. Time, everyone said. Give him time.
Then the injuries arrived and ripped that time away.
His first full season in Serie A turned into a stop-start ordeal. A significant lay-off forced him out for five months, stripping him of sharpness and any chance of building momentum. Confidence drained. Match rhythm vanished. By the end of the campaign, his tally stood at a solitary Coppa Italia goal. For a striker who had once scored for fun, the contrast was brutal.
All this unfolded in a Milan side wrestling with its own identity. The club now stands at another crossroads. Massimiliano Allegri is heading out, senior players face scrutiny, and the word “rebuild” hangs in the air once again. Inevitably, so does the question: is there still a place for Santiago Gimenez in this next version of Milan?
Borgetti’s verdict: not just on the player
One of the most qualified voices to weigh in comes from back home. Jared Borgetti, Mexico’s second-highest goalscorer of all time, knows exactly what it means to carry expectation for club and country. Speaking to GOAL on behalf of 10bet, he cut through the easy narrative that simply blames the 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 said. “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.”
Then he widened the lens to the team around Gimenez.
“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.”
That, in many ways, is the crux. Gimenez is not the type of forward who dribbles past five and scores from nowhere every week. He thrives in systems that feed him, in sides that move as one and put the ball into the right spaces at the right time.
“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,” Borgetti added. “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 message is clear: this is not a one-man failure. It is a misalignment between form, fitness, tactics and environment.
A fan in the shirt, not just a player
For all the frustration, Gimenez has not turned bitter. If anything, his public words carry a mixture of gratitude and stubborn belief.
“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 last line matters. The San Siro crowd is demanding, unforgiving when it senses a lack of effort or commitment, yet it has not targeted Gimenez with the full force it has unleashed on others. They see a player still fighting, still chasing lost causes, still trying to make this dream work.
His contract runs until the summer of 2029. On paper, there is time. In practice, top-level football rarely waits. Which is why the next few weeks in green, white and red could shape the rest of his story in red and black.
World Cup stage, home soil pressure
Mexico will open the 2026 World Cup at the Azteca Stadium, a stage soaked in history and expectation. South Africa stand in their way on the first night, with South Korea and Czechia to follow in Group A. If all goes to plan for El Tri, Gimenez will stand at the heart of it, leading the line in front of a country that knows every step he takes.
“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 the tournament. “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 declaration, the kind that invites scrutiny and headlines in equal measure. But it also reveals the mindset of a striker who refuses to be defined by one difficult year in Italy. He is not talking about “doing well” or “going far.” He is talking about winning the World Cup and finishing as its leading scorer.
If he even gets close to those targets, everything changes. A prolific World Cup on Mexican soil would send him back to Milan with a different aura, a different weight to his name in the dressing room and in the boardroom. The same supporters who have shown patience would now expect fireworks. The same club debating his future would suddenly see a player with renewed market value or a centrepiece for the new project.
For now, Gimenez stands between two worlds: the boy who dreamed of Milan and the man who wants to carry Mexico on his shoulders. The next chapter starts at the Azteca, under the glare of the opening game, with a nation watching and a career at a crossroads.
If he catches fire there, who will dare doubt him when he walks back into San Siro?
