USA national team coach Greg Berhalter believes that Christian Pulisic is proving himself at Chelsea, following his successful comeback from injury. The 22-year-old moved to Stamford Bridge from Borussia Dortmund in January 2019. He was immediately loaned back to the Germany club before joining the Blues permanently at the start of last season.
The American was on the shortlist for Premier League Young Player of the Year last term, and when using an 888sport Promo Code, he’s 12/1 to go one better and scoop the title this season amidst some exceptional performances.
“When Christian was moving from Dortmund to Chelsea we knew there was going to be an adaptation period,” said Berhalter to the Chelsea Mike’d Up Podcast.
“He had to get used to the English game. It took time, and as he did that he came out performing really well, helping the team and scoring goals and being influential. All these things we projected him being able to do took an understandable time period.”
Pulisic’s form has been encouraging at times
After a slow start to life in England, Pulisic began to find form and was largely strong in terms of his performances during his first season before an injury curtailed his progress. The highlight of Pulisic’s time at Chelsea so far was the hat trick which he scored against Burnley in October 2019. The triple made him only the second American to score a hat trick in Premier League history, with the other being former Fulham attacker Clint Dempsey. Pulisic went on to strike six goals for the club before his injury on New Years Day 2020.
There are heavy expectations on Pulisic
Despite being just 22, Pulisic is already widely regarded as being one of the greatest American football players in history and he is expected to usurp Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey in terms of European success. He initially established himself as one of the most highly-rated young prospects in European football during his time with Dortmund but started to be over-shadowed at the Bundesliga club following the arrival of Jadon Sancho in Germany during the summer of 2018. Pulisic’s transfer to Chelsea came at the right time as the emergence of Sancho cut his playing time at Chelsea.
The American will be expected to become a key player for both Chelsea as well as the United States in the future. He has already made 34 appearances for the United States team and boasts 14 goals.
