When the young American was playing in Germany for Borussia Dortmund, he was playing at his full potential having already been integrated well within the team. So much so that he managed to work his was onto some pretty big club’s radars.
With that being said, yes Borussia Dortmund is already a big club itself. They compete within their league and also can be seen as contenders in the UEFA Champions League as well. But being as young as Pulisic is, he knew that in order to continue his growth he would have to move on to compete in bigger leagues other than the Bundesliga.
Now being apart of the Blues, Pulisic has found it hard to adjust to the difference in play.. or at least that’s what the new Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, would suggest. Seeing Pulisic play the few minutes he’s gotten since his move to London, you can notice he seems to be a little timid at times. He’s not attacking the back line with pace, or constantly pressuring their passes to force a mistake, or even providing goals nor assists like he was doing just a season ago in Germany.
So that, in some eyes, may suggest he needs a little more time to adjust to a variety of things such as; a new team/coach, new environment, and a whole new league. Not only does he need to tweak his play style a little bit, but also playing within his own squad could be ‘awkward’ at first. Also not to mention, Chelsea has just recently lost their star player, Eden Hazard to Real Madrid. So with Pulisic coming into the team as Hazard was leaving, the pressure for him to be Eden’s ‘replacement’ had been unfairly pinned on him.
On the other hand, there is a lot going on that we still can’t see behind the scenes and in training. Pulisic just may flat out be under performing. Yes he is young, but with the situation that Chelsea are in right now with their transfer ban, this is where their young players need to step up into bigger roles.
Youngsters like Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, and Fikayo Tomori are thriving early on in the season under Lampard and that presents the question; where does Pulisic fit into the squad? But you have to remember, Lampard wasn’t the manager when the American was signed. Maurizio Sarri was in charge of the club at the time. And despite speaking highly when asked about Christian, Sarri wasn’t aware that the club was even trying to sign the youngster at all. And that begs the question, was Pulisic needed/wanted at Stamford Bridge at all.
With the season starting to get into full swing, Lampard has been questioned about the rare usage of Pulisic in his team. Assuring everyone that Pulisic (21yrs) still has years to prove himself and plenty of games to show his brilliance, Lampard defends his choice in using the bright eyed Mason Mount over Pulisic. Lampard goes on to explain how many players he has to choose from that would hold a spot in the 11 before the American. So as it stands, it looks like Christian Pulisic has a lot of work to do in order to prove himself worthy of some more playing time to Lampard and the Chelsea fans.
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