Craig Burley hails Christian Pulisic as an excellent player, but cautions the move to Chelsea is loaded with risks for the American star.
Despite dwindling playing time at Borussia Dortmund, Christian Pulisic continues to showcase why Chelsea were willing to splash the cash for him.
MARBELLA, Spain — Christian Pulisic will cope with the demands of the Premier League and be a success at Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc has predicted.
“He’s a lad who comes with that typically American self-confidence,” Zorc told ESPN at Dortmund’s winter training camp. “Many of his characteristics will help him in England where everything is just little bit more intense than in the Bundesliga.
“He has the pace, he’s got the dribbling, he wants to get ahead at all costs. I don’t know a single reason why he wouldn’t make it there.”
Zorc also revealed that the U.S. international’s £57 million to Stamford Bridge had been in the making for quite some time.
Pulisic had previously been a target for Liverpool, who are now managed by former Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp, as well as Manchester United and Bayern Munich.
“We took a collective decision with Christian’s family and his agent that we would transfer him in the summer of 2019 if he didn’t want to extend his contract with us,” former Dortmund midfielder Zorc said.
“That decision was taken, and it then came to pass over the last few months. It wasn’t a case of talks with Chelsea starting at Christmas and being concluded on New Year’s Eve — this had been going on for weeks if not to say months.”
Pulisic will see out the 2018-19 season back on loan with Dortmund, who lead the Bundesliga by six points, and could move to Chelsea as a title winner.
Sources told ESPN FC that the decision to join Chelsea in the summer, rather than in January, was Pulisic’s to give him the best chance of impressing Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri during a full preseason rather than half of a regular season.
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