Christian Pulisic will almost certainly enjoy his two weeks away from Chelsea. Not because he will be able to rest and recharge like the majority of the first-team squad. Quite the opposite in fact.
Shortly after the Blues' 2-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday, the 23-year-old hopped on a plane, but there were no thoughts of a brief holiday. Instead, he returned to the U.S. ahead of his country's World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador, Canada and Honduras.
Pulisic will be tasked with ensuring the USMNT book their place in Qatar later this year. He is the side's talisman and leader. The man nicknamed Captain America by supporters and compared to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in his homeland. There is pressure, responsibility,
"Going into a national-team game, I never thought that I need to perform because everyone is expecting me to be the best player," Pulisic explained in an interview with GQ last year. “But I would put pressure on myself because I wanted to do well. I wanted to be that player that everyone wanted me to be.”
Pulisic has been able to thrive under the microscope while on international duty. The Chelsea winger captained the USMNT to a 3–2 victory in the first-ever CONCACAF Nations League final against Mexico last year, scoring the winner from the penalty spot in the second half of extra time.
He also struck a crucial opener five minutes after coming off the bench against the same opposition during a World Cup qualifier in November.
Pulisic's status within the U.S. squad is set. It's a very different story back at Chelsea. The American is midway through his third season at Stamford Bridge and has yet to cement his place in the starting XI.
Injuries have played their part – and there have been a fair few – while Pulisic's versatility has also counted against him this season; he has been used in both wing-back roles due to injuries to Reece James and Ben Chilwell and spent part of December playing as a false nine with Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz ruled out.
That Pulisic has sacrificed himself for the good of the team over the past two months is admirable and shouldn't simply be brushed over. And Thomas Tuchel has certainly appreciated it.
"It's true we've moved him around a little bit but in the end, players want to play and it's a good thing if they can play more positions," he said earlier this month.
"A player can always argue I would have been more consistent or better if I had one clear position, but maybe then they have less minutes or they face even more competition – upfront we have two or three players in every position.
"So first of all it's a good thing. It was also a bad sign because it means we had trouble on the left and right wing-back with injuries and he helped us out there. We are happy with the impact that he has had. He can play a lot of minutes. H needs to play a lot of minutes. And he has a physical ability that can help us."
Pulisic's favoured position is on the left of the attack. Yet it's a role he has barely played under Tuchel, who would argue it doesn't exist in the 3-4-2-1 system he has predominantly used since taking over from Frank Lampard a year ago.
It does in a 4-1-4-1 and that is the shape Tuchel used against Tottenham on Sunday but Pulisic didn't even get off the substitutes' bench – Callum Hudson-Odoi started the game and created Hakim Ziyech's wonderful goal before being replaced late on by Marcos Alonso.
That would almost certainly have frustrated Pulisic, especially as he didn't feature in the disappointing midweek draw at Brighton. And rather notably, the American star has only featured in one of Chelsea's last four matches in all competitions.
It wasn't supposed to be this way for Pulisic. When he agreed to join the Blues in January 2019 from Borussia Dortmund for £58million, he was viewed as Chelsea's next Eden Hazard. The man who would replace the Belgian, who was destined to join Real Madrid later in the year.
Pulisic's first campaign under Lampard was encouraging and he was rewarded with the No.10 shirt worn by Hazard ahead of his second season at Stamford Bridge.
That was disrupted by injury and a lack of form. There were notable goals and performances, such as against Real Madrid in the Champions League, yet far too often the American was viewed as an effective option off the bench by Tuchel.
Pulisic has been unable to change that status this season. It begs the question: what comes next? Come this summer, the winger will have just two years remaining on his contract at Chelsea; it will be the last opportunity the club can demand a significant fee for the American.
That is if Marina Granovskaia does not offer Pulisic a new deal. But how enticing a contract would be is another matter given his lack of guaranteed game time under Tuchel.
There would be no shortage of interested clubs should Pulisic decide his time at Chelsea has come to a natural end after this season, the American's marketability alone ensures that. Bayern Munich are understood to have a long-standing interest while Barcelona have previously been linked.
The coming months are likely to be pivotal for Pulisic at Chelsea and will define the next chapter of his career. He is a player who enjoys responsibility, it's down to Tuchel and the club to decide if he's ready for it.
