Christian Pulisic could be handed a Chelsea lifeline by Mauricio Pochettino provided the winger makes a good impression on his new head coach.
That is according to Pulisic's compatriot, Brad Friedel, who thinks that the player can salvage his Chelsea career by knuckling down in pre-season. Pochettino is due to start work at the Blues on Saturday amid a clearout of the Stamford Bridge side's squad with Ruben Loftus-Cheek the latest player to depart the club, with the 27 year-old heading to AC Milan for £18million.
Milan also hold an interest in Pulisic, with the San Siro side's Serie A rivals Juventus and Napoli also keen on the United States of America ace too. Meanwhile, reports have claimed that the 24 year-old's representatives have approached Chelsea's Premier League rivals Manchester United and Newcastle United to gauge their interest in signing their client.
Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Friedel has given his take on Pulisic's situation and thinks there is a way back for him at Chelsea. Friedel was at Spurs while Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of the North London side before leaving in 2015.
"I would like to think it's not inevitable he's leaving," Friedel said, speaking to football.london on behalf of OLBG. "I know Mauricio really well, I know the staff and I would like to see the staff give him a chance.
"If Christian were to buy into what Mauricio wants to do and the staff have a good vibe from him in pre-season and like what they saw, I'd like to think there's a future for him there. Mauricio is the type of manager that gives players chances.
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"When players leave Mauricio's squads it's because they've not taken their chance. He's one of the fairest managers that I've ever played for, so I would like to think there's a little hope for him to play in Mauricio's style because Christian, again, has the attributes that Mauricio likes.
"He'll press, he'll work hard which Mauricio likes, and he's very dynamic. I think he'd probably like a little bit more goal output from him if he had him, but I'm sure Christian would want to score more goals too.
"He seems like a player who would do really well for him."
