Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has advised his team-mate Christian Pulisic to remain positive. The American arrived at Stamford Bridge during the summer from Borussia Dortmund and has had a less than ideal start to life with the West London club. Pulisic has so far played four times in the Premier League for the Blues and has only notched one assist. He has so far been unable to adapt to the Premier League. It is still early though and as was seen by his spell in Germany, the 21-year-old has plenty of potential so it would be dangerous to write him off immediately.
As a result of his inability to deliver so far, Pulisic has been relegated to the bench for recent games by manager Frank Lampard. This is likely to be depressing for the youngster but he will have to remain positive and focus on working hard in training to impress his manager.
There are heavy expectations on Pulisic
Pulisic is capable of developing into a World-class star and this was the reason why the Blues recruited him, initially in January 2019. Going into this season, there were heavy expectations of him, certainly more than there was for Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount. Pulisic was already tested at the highest level going into this season while the aforementioned trio were not.
Many feel that the United States international will help to fill the void that was created by the departure of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid last summer.
Even though Pulisic is not playing regularly at the moment, he will eventually get his chances. It will be up to him to learn from his previous mistakes and continue to learn about the English environment. Blues fans also need to be understanding and accept that they cannot expect immediate impact from all players. Some do take longer to adapt to their new environment.
As quoted by Goal, Azpilicueta said: “As the manager said, we are a group, we are all important on this long path, we are only in October. Sometimes the manager has to make decisions, but I see him [Pulisic] working hard in training.
“What I can say is to encourage him to keep working, because we know it is a new country, a new team, a bit of time of adaption is needed. I see him with the character working hard in training, and I’m sure he will be very important for us for the season.
