U.S. Under-17 National Team midfielder Christian Pulisic will have a chance to show Borussia Dortmund’s first team just how close he is to being able to contribute.
According to Kicker, the 17-year-old talent was invited to join Borussia Dortmund’s first team training camp in Dubai. The report also says that he, and 17-year-old German youth international Felix Passlack, will continue to train with the first team, and could be called upon to join the squad in the future.
Pulisic’s last run out with the senior team came in September, when he and fellow American Junior Flores both appeared in a friendly against FC St. Pauli.
Pulisic has scored 4 goals and 3 assists with the Dortmund Under-19 team this season.
What do you think of Pulisic’s promotion to the first team for the January training camp? Think he will do well in Dubai? Expect him to see first-team minutes soon?
Share your thoughts below.
The ESPN article made it sound more promising than this version although it link to what I guess would be the original Kicker article which talked almost exclusively about Passlack (an interesting name for a midfielder, so many puns to throw).
Sounds like Dortmund is looking to see if one of these two or the combo can replace Hofmann. One would have to wonder if this is a trial or if they are just place holders until a more established player is brought in during this transfer window. I can’t believe if you are trying to chase down Munich that you would use 17 years old in your midfield, even talented ones, but I think Hofmann was more a reserve so who knows.
A lot of things would have to fall into place for BVB to realistically catch Bayern this season; namely serious injuries and run of bad form to both BVB’s and Bayern’s squad for them to have a shot.
However, as BVB have finally fully recovered from their financial issues (the fact that they aren’t seriously entertaining any offers for Aubameyang and Gundogan is indicative of that) catching up and narrowing the gap long-term to Bayern is very much attainable. Passlack, Pulisic, and other prospects, as well as any other talent they scrub up from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and hopefully more Americans are what will bring them back as serious competitors.
Isn’t there a restriction on Foreign under 18 players playing with the full professional team? Was Pulisic signed before those rules took effect?
He has a European passport so he’s not a foreigner.
Of the handfull of youth games that I’ve watched, this kid is the only one who looks like a legit player. I’m more excited about him than any other player coming through the system at the moment. Genuinely creative in the final third which can’t be said of anyone in USMNT jersey right now.
It’s more than just joining the first-team temporarily. He’s been given a squad number and everything. He’s a first-team player right now, he’ll only keep playing U-19 games when not in the first-team squad.
Where were you able to read this? Passlack as well? If this is true, then its huge. It seems like BVB is preparing for the second half of the season. If it looks like they don’t have a shot in catching Bayern, and are well ahead of 3rd place, we may be seeing Pulisic against some relegation fodder.
The US looks fairly strong from 17 to 23 a lot a potential and I think pulisic could a true number 10 the senior team has been looking for along time in a few years.
this has been true for like 2 decades
I disagree, I think some people tend to get excited and over hype some youth players and then say oh man they were a bust or never got to there full potential. Fact is they weren’t that good.
I would also argue, our past prospects are more in line to Yedlin-types; freak athletes with size or speed, that a club is hoping to drill some techiniques or better tactics into.
This new generation is quite the opposite. They’re wanted for the Soccer IQ, vision and technical ability, not strength and speed. The fact that we are debating if Zelalem will ever be strong enough to play for Arsenal, and not worried if he has the talent is extremely different than wondering if Jonathan Spector would ever actually play striker for Man United (who was so technically and tactically deficient, that Fergie found it easier to move him to CB).
If Gyau canget healthy, you could have 2 Americans on the team.
Speaking of Gyau……..It’s been reported a few places that Gyau is close to joining old Dortmund II boss and German-American, David Wagner at Huddersfield on loan. Apparently, he’s rounding out his rehab on his knee and BVD wants Gyau to prove his fitness. Good sign if true. Though, I’m not sure how much truth there is to the Gyau rumors since it hasn’t picked up much steam.
Doesn’t look like it’ll happen.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2016/01/05/tuesday-kickaround-20/
I was wondering why he wasn’t called into the U20 camp (he’ll be 18 this year). Now I know.
Yes he is young but other guys from the U17 World Cup team were called into the U20 camp by Ramos. Pulisic was clearly the best player on that team.
Wood Chip, Bottlecaps is saying he will be busy with the First Team, and thus either declined or Ramos was aware and didn’t ask him in. After watching the U-17 WC I doubt too many others from that team were asked to train with their first teams this January. Same as Haji Wright wasn’t called in as he will be apparently joining the Schalke system and will want to get started there instead of an early camp with USSF.
He seems to be right on track I think, and I’m glad that Tuchel seems to have the same opinion of him as Klopp did. I think realistically, he’s closer to the reserve-team level. Next-year will be a big year though. If he starts seeing the bench, maybe some minutes against bottom bundesliga clubs, and starts in early Pokal matches, then we might actually have a “special-talent” on our hands.
I would like to remind everyone to use cautious optimism with Pulisic. Julian Green was in a very similar situation, training and being invited to first-team camps at 17 (although he was never regarded as one of the top prospects, although Pep was a big fan of him). Hell, even Donovan was already a regular for Bayer-Leverkusen II when he was 17. It takes a lot to jump from academy to full-professional.
“even Donovan was a regular for Leverkusen…”
You should probably try not comparing him to the best player in US soccer history if you want to stress that we should avoid hype. As for comparing him to the 2nd leading goal scorer for Bayern II this season who you’ve apparently completely written off at the ripe age of 20, well that’s a whole different topic already debated enough on here.
lol I guess “cautious optimism” didn’t have the same effect as “temper the hype”. As you allude to, Donovan was perhaps the greatest US Soccer player ever, but he was still not world-class (great player with real quality though). I don’t want Pulisic to be as good as Donovan; I want Pulisic to surpass him, to become the new standard. But as my comparison alludes to, Donovan was already further along in his development, and still didn’t develop into World Class player. Again, temper the hype but be cautiously optimistic.
The Julian Green comment was also meant to show that player development isn’t linear. Eventually, like Julian, Pulisic WILL hit a plateau, and maybe even have to take a step backward to take 2 steps forward. I just like reminding people, who as you said write off 20 year olds, that this isn’t an easy or simple process. Lots of challenges to overcome.
By the way, I have full faith in Green’s ability to at least develop into a solid, attacking option we sorely need on the wings, even if he isn’t going to be the next Robbery or CoCo.