U.S. Men’s National Team star Christian Pulisic is on the move to join English Premier League club Chelsea FC for £64 million—a record fee for an American player.
The 20-year-old winger signed a five and a half year deal with the London club but will remain with his current club Borussia Dortmund—who sit first place in the German Bundesliga—on loan for the remainder of the 2018-19 season. Pulisic scored 10 goals in 81 appearances for Dortmund after joining the team at the age of 16.
However, this move presents many different upsides and downsides for the young American superstar.
The very nature of the move presents many upsides for not only Pulisic but American soccer as a whole. This record fee shows that the U.S. is more than capable of producing top-tier young talent, that more importantly do not only feature in the domestic league. While plenty of U.S. internationals have found success in leagues abroad, very few have been just as good as Pulisic, and this fee shows it.
Chelsea is also a strong club that competes for the English Premier League title frequently—having won the league five times since 2000. This means Pulisic will be playing competitive soccer at an incredibly high level, which will surely help improve the quality of his play at the international level.
The main downsides of a move to Chelsea are its history of poorly handled youth players and the fact he will face a lot of competition to get in the first team. Chelsea is known for the massive amount of youth players they loan out every season who rarely ever see playing time for the first team—see Pulisic’s U.S. teammate Matt Miazga for a great example of this. While Pulisic is miles above a lot of the players that find themselves in the perpetual loan cycle, there’s still a chance he could rarely feature for the London side due to its depth and find himself out on loan—he’s technically on loan now, but that is most likely so he can claim a league title with Dortmund before moving on.
He also faces an uphill battle in terms of getting into the starting squad at Chelsea. Although he is versatile and can play as a winger on both sides of the field or behind the striker in a No. 10 attacking midfield role, Chelsea is already stacked with quality players at these positions. Belgian star Eden Hazard occupies the left wing and attacking midfield role for Chelsea, which will be a tough player for Pulisic to beat out for that particular position. On the right side of the midfield, he has to compete with long-time Chelsea regulars Pedro and Willian. He should have no problem beating out at least Willian for this role, as many Chelsea fans seem to be ready for the club to move on from the Brazilian and Pulisic’s arrival could mean Willian is set to leave.
Pulisic has the quality to start for Chelsea and could bring a great attacking threat to the English side’s already lightning attack, but this all depends on if he gets the opportunity to prove himself. While leaving Dortmund may not be the best idea for a young player like Pulisic—Dortmund has one of the best youth academies and developed many of the best players in this generation—his lack of starting time this season proves that this move is necessary for the American.
With this move, Pulisic has been handed a tremendous opportunity to prove himself at one of the best clubs in one of the best leagues in the world. Should he succeed, it will certainly open the door for more young American talents to get big-time European moves. However, if he doesn’t manage to make a large impact at Chelsea, there’s still hope for the 20-year-old. He’s still a young talent, and sometimes, being a Chelsea flop isn’t always a bad thing—just ask Kevin De Bruyne and Mohammed Salah, they seem to be getting along just fine now.
