Christian Pulisic has had an up-and-down Chelsea career so far. With consistent managerial changes, injury issues throughout and the peaks and troughs with team form he has failed to become the world superstar many predicted of him back when he was a teenager at Borussia Dortmund.
That being said, he has scored goals across a Champions League semi-final, bagged in an FA Cup final and lifted three trophies in his time in London so far. Given the wider failures of his attacking teammates across the board he has been far from the only one to not live up to the hype.
Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku have come and gone since he joined meanwhile Hakim Ziyech has fared worse than the American winger too. His niggles and time out of the side have made it hard for him to build up the level and match sharpness needed to succeed in the Premier League.
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Of Chelsea's attackers last season still on the books at Stamford Bridge, the USMNT star had the second highest goals per 90 minutes when compared to Kai Havertz, Ziyech and Lukaku. Only the Belgian had more than Pulisic but he is, afterall, a striker. His non-penalty xG per90 was also the second most, behind only Havertz who once more played centrally as a focal point more often.
At 24 and 23 respectively, Havertz and Pulisic are perhaps the best duo to compare and across their career the underlying numbers are relatively close. Accounting for more substitute appearances and time spent on the sidelines, Pulisic's per90 readings are close to that of Havertz.
He has never been an elite goalscorer, never matching Havertz's tallies in Germany, but his dribbling and speed have seen him develop a distinctive playstyle that some of the world's best managers have seen. "If Christian would at one point join us, I don’t know. But I like him and it’s not like that could be the problem," Jurgen Klopp said in 2018, months before Pulisic joined Chelsea.
"We respect contracts still and there is no market that I know about in the moment. I known him since he was a kid and he’s still not really old. He’s a fantastic player and it’s deserved that people think highly of him in America and in Germany it’s the same." Pulisic's stock has risen with his national team but not so much in England.
That being said, the interest posed by Manchester United, AC Milan, Juventus and Newcastle since the summer shows that he is still ranked as a valuable asset to have. Thomas Tuchel saw it another way, though, and never properly took to the former Borussia Dortmund star at Stamford Bridge.
It was expected that the German coach, who had helped Pulisic to break onto the scene, would rekindle his career but in reality he struggled. The American was often shifted out to wingback or unnatural positions, rarely playing in his preferred left-wing spot. Then came the killer blow when Tuchel left him out of the second leg in 2021 against Real Madrid.
"What happened before that game was hugely disappointing for me," Pulisic wrote in his book 'My Journey So Far.' "l'd had a really good first leg performance and our following match was against Fulham in the league. Tuchel told me that he was resting me for the second leg and as a result I didn't play a single minute in the Fulham game. Then on match day of the second semi, Tuchel tells me he's changed his mind and he's going with Kai."
The choice paid off in the end and Tuchel was proven right on his call, but Pulisic did come on to seal the win with a late goal from the bench. His comments speak volumes, though: "I honestly was dumbfounded and very disappointed. I thought that I'd earned a start and, most importantly, he had assured me previously I was going to start. So by the time he brought me on with about 25 minutes left, I was just so wound up."
Pulisic only scored nine league goals under Tuchel at SW6 and was close to leaving the club last summer with the boss in charge. The relationship appears to have been fractured and now his future at Chelsea is uncertain.
Both managers can have been right here though. Pulisic is still the talented player that Klopp spoke about five years ago but he is also not the type of player Tuchel needed from the get-go against Madrid. The contrast between the two and what it has left Pulisic as at Chelsea is merely a small glimpse into his time in England so far.
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