Christian Pulisic’s decision to leave Borussia Dortmund for EPL giants Chelsea was always going to be a tough one. The 20-year-old star of the U.S. Men’s National Team will see his time with Dortmund come to a close this summer before he gears up for his next challenge in London.
Chelsea paid $73.1 million for the midfielder’s services in what was a record transaction for an American player. Pulisic has always shown the ability to make things happen, despite not earning consistent appearances with the Bundesliga outfit.
However, the excitement his grown for Pulisic who faces five more months in Dortmund before taking his talents to England.
“For them to do this and to want me this much I think yeah they must like me, at least a little bit,” Pulisic said in an interview with ESPN. “I’ve been here and playing with Dortmund the whole time and I’ve been focused here, but I’ll be really excited once the time comes.”
“I’m really happy with my decision at the moment. I don’t have any regrets. I’m really excited, but yeah. The best thing is I get to finish out a strong season here. After that, I can move on to this next step.”
Pulisic will not be apart of Gregg Berhalter’s first camp in charge of the USMNT due to Dortmund returning to domestic play this weekend. Dortmund, who are coming off a 3-2 friendly win over Fortuna Dusseldorf on Monday, still have 12 days until their next competitive fixture as they are on Winter Break from league play.
Dortmund has helped Pulisic grow into a better player from when he first walked into the doors. The team has exploded to a current first-place spot in the Bundesliga, taking 42 points from their opening 17 matches while also advancing into the Champions League Round of 16.
Knowing that players like Eden Hazard, N’Golo Kante, Alvaro Morata, and Ross Barkley await at Stamford Bridge, Pulisic will need to fight for his place in Maurizio Sarri’s squad.
“I think they definitely see me in one of the wider areas, but I think they also know that I can play kind of anywhere across the attack,” Pulisic said. “So I’m ready for wherever I need to be filled in really.”
“It’s going to be the first time obviously for me [in] clubs like this. I’d imagine when you first go in you have to go in and you earn the respect of the guys. I’m sure they’re all great guys off the field, just like this team is and you got go in on the field and earn your spot. Every training, every game, any time I get the opportunity, just like here I have to take it and I have to prove to them that I’m worthy of being on the field and playing with that team.”
Couldn’t hack it in Germany? You mean in first half of this season being a rotation, squad player (best 18) on one of the most talented teams in Europe that is playing to win the Bundesliga and Champion’s League. Look at the players that have edged him out of his starting spot. Money talks and even if he was slightly overpriced because he’s an American (marketing dollars)… he is still worth a lot because of how his ability and performances. Period.
Good marketing move by Chelsea but he should’ve stayed at BvD and let his careeer go through its natural progression instead of jumping to a much harder league before becoming an established player.
Nobody goes to the EPL to develop and if he couldn’t hack it in the Bundesliga his chances look pretty dim in England.
You’re really reaching with several of these remarks. Pulisic is absolutely an established player in the Bundesliga, as any team including Bayern were/would have been chasing his services. He has started pretty much every Champions League game and was a terror against Tottenham and Atletico Madrid. As a still very young player Pulisic has risen through the BvB ranks pretty quickly. If it is to be believed that Chelsea nearly had a deal done last summer, i’d argue that BvB has rotated Pulisic more so because they knew he was leaving and wanted to get more minutes to players like Klassen and Sancho, who are going to be there for the foreseeable future. Sancho has showed himself to be more influential than CP as of late but considering Pulisic has again played at the start of most Champions League games you’d have to believe that his stature at the club is not as dire as some make it out to be