Christian Pulisic: *Potentially* America's best ever male player

When Christian Pulisic first broke through at Borussia Dortmund in early 2016, there was an insanely large amount of excitement around him especially from sports media outlets based in the United States. This is to be expected given the lack of top class football players that USA has produced relative to its massive 300 million plus population. This lack of truly top class professional American footballers has often in the past lead to the over hyping of mediocre talent by the US media, Freddy Adu was earmarked to become one of the best players in the world at one point in time. The less said about his career the better. With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that not only is Pulisic an exceptional player worth all the hype he receives, he has all the tools to become the USA’s best ever player. In this piece we will analyze the excellent season he’s had at Chelsea and what he needs to do to be certain of achieving that accolade

Chelsea’s summer of change in 2019

Before analyzing Pulisic’s debut season at Chelsea it is important to establish the context surrounding his arrival and the state of the team at the time that he joined.

The summer of 2019 was perhaps Chelsea’s worst transfer window of the Abramovic era. The main reason for this is the transfer ban that FIFA placed on the club after finding them guilty of breaching regulations regarding the registration of young international players. (Pulisic was purchased in January 2019 before the ban took effect) This is the event that set in motion a series of changes at Stamford Bridge, the first being the departure of then manager Mauricio Sarri who was replaced by former player and Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. This move came as a shock to the footballing world as Lampard had only one year of experience as a coach of any kind, and no experience coaching at the top level of the English game.

Secondly Chelsea were forced to sell Eden Hazard: their best player of the last 5 years to Real Madrid. Straight away with them losing such a prized asset, the pressure was immediately heaped onto Pulisic’s shoulders as he has a very similar playing style to Hazard, inevitably leading to the expectation that Pulisic would be the long term replacement for Hazard in the Chelsea team.

Pulisic’s 2019/20 season

In the early stages of the season Pulisic found a place in the starting 11 difficult to come by. Frank Lampard showed more faith in Chelsea youth products Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount (whom he’d already had an existing relationship with) than he did in Pulisic. This lead to the vexation of American fans and pundits alike who were becoming impatient with Pulisic’s lack of game minutes. Their vexation turned to utter joy on October 26, 2019 when Pulisic scored a perfect hat trick (goals with left foot, right foot and head) vs Burnley in an away game. From that moment on, he has gone from strength to strength, scoring in his next two appearances. Only an injury lay-off in early 2020 was enough to derail the fine performances he was giving for the Chelsea team.

Perhaps his most impressive run of form came in the 9 games after the enforced break in football due to the pandemic. From late June through August Pulisic was arguably the most dangerous attacking player in the entire division. He not only managed to score some important goals for the team in their push for a Champions League place, he often decorated matches with mesmerizing bits of skill the likes that any football fan can watch and appreciate regardless of club allegiances. His most impressive performance came in a 5-3 defeat to Liverpool. Pulisic was introduced as a second half substitute with the score at 4-1 in Liverpool’s favor. Like a man possesses, Pulisic produced a stunningly skillful run before providing an assist for Abraham, and minutes later tucking away a brilliant finish on the turn. This was against the champions of England and by many people’s estimation the best team in the world.

What does he need to do to become America’s best ever?

The first and most important thing Pulisic must do to cement himself into American soccer history is that he must continue improving. While he has continued to improve steadily season after season since his break through in 2016, it cannot be stressed how important it is for him to kick in after this season especially at a club like Chelsea. So far in this transfer window they have secured the services of Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech, and they are reportedly closing in on a deal for Kai Havertz. These are 3 of the best young attacking players in Europe and they are all around the same age as Pulisic. If he does not improve upon his performances from last season he could very quickly find himself on the bench behind Chelsea’s new expensive recruits.

Going along with overall improvement to his game, he must also translate his good club form to that of his national team. Pulisic was heavily involved in the debacle that was the USMNT’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, perhaps the only blot on his young career so far. Notable US players like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard have had memorable performances for the US in major international tournaments that have captured the imagination of the wider American public. Until Pulisic does something similar for his country, it is easy to argue that those players listed have done more for American soccer than Pulisic has. Luckily for Pulisic he has a lot of time and many tournaments to prove himself on the international stage

Conclusion

It is no exaggeration to say that Pulisic genuinely has the football world at his feet. The feat of being an important player at a club the size of Chelsea is something that no other American has achieved, Pulisic has done this a full 6 years before the peak years of his career. At 21 years old and given the sheer ability and talent that we have seen so far, if he can continue to produce these levels of performance season in and season out, it won’t be long before he outright claims the title of the GOAT American football player.