According to some recent news reports Chelsea could be signing United States international Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund.

It’s believed that The Blues are ready to splash out £70m to bring in the twenty year old during the winter transfer window.

One reason for the move could be because the London giants are potentially facing a two year transfer ban from FIFA, which could see a few new faces arrive in January. It’s also believed that Bundesliga leaders Dortmund could be ready to do a deal as they’ve failed to convince the American to extend his current deal beyond 2020.

The twenty year old might be given six months to bed in at Stamford Bridge, with the right berth in attack finally being handed to him.

That could then see Brazilian international Willian eventually moving on.

Sometimes Willian looks to be the odd one out at Chelsea, He’s very clever on the ball, can provide top class assists, score goals and is an extremely dangerous threat from set-pieces. At times though things seem to slow down when the attacker gets on the ball and you get the feeling Chelsea would maybe benefit from more quickness on the righthand side.

Pulisic has been limited to just seven league appearances and three more in the Champions League this term due to muscle problems. But the youngster has still impressed even with the limited game time. He’s banged in two goals and created two assists.

The US international is very comfortable on the ball and he’s very exciting when he’s dribbling directly at opponents. His dribbling success rates are better than anyone at The Blues, well apart from Eden Hazard (Obviously!).

The young forward is also strong when it comes to small, quick passes and he’ll fit in with Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri’s footballing philosophy in that regard. He’s also a versatile attacker and that will also please Sarri.

The Italian would also like to work with the American and improve him.

There’s certainly room for improvement.

Christian has the potential to become one of the world’s best but the hard part is realising that potential. He could certainly benefit from working with Hazard, Willian and Pedro as he’ll learn so much from the super experienced trio.

One area that Sarri would look at improving in Christian’s game, if he signs on at Chelsea, would be his passing success rate. This season it’s averaging around 80% in the league; while the likes of Hazard, Willian and Pedro are all hitting above 86% in their passing success rate percentages.

We all know having and keeping the ball is important to Maurizio’s game plan and Pulisic will need to up that part of his game if he were to arrive at Stamford Bridge.

You’d also expect Chelsea would want to see the forward up his goal tally and create more assists as well. If you’re spending anywhere near £70m on a creative talent then you’d be wanting them to reach double figures in both goals and assists.

The player has recently said he’d welcome a move to the Premier League, at some point:

‘England, the Premier League, is where lots of kids dream of playing so there is no reason why one day I won’t play here,’

Given that his deal is running down and with the emergence of Jadon Sancho, it’s hard to see Borussia Dortmund standing in Chelsea’s way if they are desperate to sign Christian Pulisic this January.

If he does sign on at The Bridge then the American will have to really up his game if he’s going to nudge Willian and Pedro out of the team. He could be USA’s first world class player but he still needs to do the hard thing and that’s proving it!

Posted on November 18th, 2018 by scott
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