Inside Christian Pulisic’s Premier League nightmare with Chelsea

Christian Pulisic, regarded as the darling of US soccer, has shone throughout his international and club career – but he’s also had his ups and downs. While the American has impressed at times, first for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund and then Chelsea, the 24-year-old has also had nagging injury issues and drops in form.

The Pennsylvania native was a hot commodity when he made his move to the Bundesliga.

While Pulisic began to get his feet wet in Germany with Bundesliga giants Dortmund, the young American would experience first hand the ups and downs of professional football players.

He would come in and out of the Dortmund lineup, with his explosiveness used mostly from the bench.

In his four seasons defending the club’s crest, Pulisic was able to score 19 goals in 127 appearances.

Former manager Thomas Tuchel would praise the young American player, calling him “fearless” and adding: “He has so much speed, but what I like most is his first touch. When he gets the ball, his first touch opens up a huge space for him even if there is no space.”

But with Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho bursting onto the scene, Pulisic was still unable to cement himself in the starting XI.

Chelsea would later pounce with an irresistible offer for Pulisic and Dortmund, with the American down in the pecking order, took the £58m ($69m) transfer fee on January 2 2019.

It saw Pulisic become the most expensive USMNT soccer player of all-time.

Pulisic made his Premier League debut for Chelsea in a 4-0 defeat against Manchester United. However, the American would score a perfect hat-trick against Burnley later on.

Under Frank Lampard, it seemed that Pulisic was just starting to find his proper footing, but he’d been reduced to the bench in favour of other options after being hit with the injury bug.

Pulisic suffered from stretches of injury but finished his first season in England strong, with 11 goals in 34 matches.

In his second season, it was more of the same. Pulisic would have flashes of brilliance but, again, would go down with injuries and dips in form.

To his credit, the American international dug deep and would reclaim a spot on the team – he ended up being influential in Chelsea’s Champions League run, coming up huge in the semi-final clash against Real Madrid and scoring a critical away goal.

Chelsea would later go on to defeat Manchester City in the final, with Pulisic becoming just the second American to win the Champions League.

In total, during this season, Pulisic battled through injuries and a coaching change to have 6 goals in 43 matches.

Year three at Chelsea would be more of the same, starting strongly by scoring in the first match of the season, but being sidelined with coronavirus and an ankle injury until November.

To kick off the current Premier League season, Pulisic has been reduced to a substitute role and, despite his talent and skill, the American’s time at Chelsea seems to be coming to an end.

Even after the sacking of Thomas Tuchel, the depth of the Chelsea FC squad has Pulisic fighting for precious minutes.

Former United States goalkeeping legend and New England Revolution manager Brad Friedel recently urged Pulisic to leave Chelsea this summer to rejuvenate his career.

In an interview with Sporting Post, former Premier League goalkeeper Friedel said of Pulisic’s future: “It goes back to having too many players at Chelsea. Look at who he is up against.

“I’m not one of those people who says someone should leave if they’re not playing because I believe you need to fight for your place and prove your worth.

“But if there aren’t going to be opportunities, Christian is one of the most important players for USA so we’re going to want him to be playing consistently.

“It’s going to be one of those summers where either he is told he is in Chelsea’s plans and they offer him a new deal, or he gets sold.

“Looking at things I’m thinking it’s probably the latter and we’ll see him somewhere else which could be good for him to play consistently.”

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