I've followed/respected your posts a lot, and I was JW as to why you think that he's the best prospect you've ever seen? Not agreeing or disagreeing, just curious to what your reasoning is behind your claim. Cheers.
He's going to be helped by not having a year long gap on the side lines. I assume he's going to join the sane u-19 team as Flores, at least part time?
Probably start off with their U17 team. BVB U17's next league match isn't until Feb. 22, but he'll be gone with our U17's for WCQ in Honduras that kicks off in 2 weeks.
I like him a lot and the reason is that he solves problems on the field with skill and brains, not just with speed and power. He has ALL of the tools to be the first american superstar. Of course nothing is guaranteed but he is not just another hot kid in my opinion.
Yeah, we've been down this path before with "potential" superstars, but, he seems to have more tools in the toolbox than prior saviors. Touch, passing ability, composure in the box....plus, maybe most importantly, the ability to score with both feet. Extremely exciting prospect
CHRISTIAN PULISIC IMPRESSES AFTER TRAINING WITH BORUSSIA DORTMUND FIRST TEAM http://www.sbisoccer.com/2015/02/christian-impresses-borussia.html
I believe Pulisic will be something special but at the same time I hope he doesn't end up like that other top australian prospect who's been there for years and still hasn't started for Dortmund in the Bundesliga.I remember an aussie friend of mine telling me he was going to be the next Tim Cahill in terms of stardom for their team. Edit: His name is mustafa amini: Funny there was actually a recent article on him after finding his name and googling him basically talking about how he's been wasted at dortmund. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2361181-mustafa-amini-borussia-dortmunds-dormant-genius http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Amini Now Dortmund has had a history of giving youngsters like Pulisic a chance at first team but of course most probably don't until years later and who knows what the first team squad would look like when he's 18/19/20 where they might be stacked at his position.
If he just stays humble and works hard, he'll have plenty of opportunities ahead of him. Very excited for him.
Truth is - some fellow countrymen seem to overrate their talented players a bit and get excited too easily (sometimes without having seen them actually playing....). Amini has never shown any hint in a single game for Dortmund that he has the talent to be a good Bundesliga player. Could be 2. Bundesliga material though, but injuries have prevented him from making the next step.
I'm emphasizing more that if dortmund doesn't give him a chance at first team after spending 3-4 years with them, he shouldn't waste his time anymore and go somewhere else to continue his soccer development. Even if its the MLS.
So those of us who have seen him play what player does Christian remind you of or see similarities in his game. For me he shows a lot of similarities to Chelsea's Oscar.
It's probably a lazy comparison given clubs but he reminds me of Shinji Kagawa. Small, quick, strong on the ball, great with both feet, and able and willing to drift to the wing. Obviously any comparison is pure hope and speculation, but I feel he has comparable traits to Kagawa.
With the caveat that I'm not a big Oscar fan I'd say Coutinho, having seen him play at the U-17 level. Christian is a less elaborate dribbler than Phillipe was at that age. In a list of our best youth team prospects I posted the guys I/groupthink put in the Donovan/Beasley range: Acosta Adu Altidore Agbossomunde Agudelo Bradley Brooks CCV* EPB Flores Gil Green Hyndman Lletget Perez Renken Rubin Shea Szetela Wright *new addition As you can see there are many stalled careers or flameouts, which is something to keep in mind. So while I think Pulisic is closer to the Donovan end of the spectrum the same could have been said about Adu.
He is not small for a 16 year old. How big were you at that age? He is probably an average sized American male and so it is reasonable to think he will end up being 5'10-5'11.
How tall is he right now? From what I hear he's 5'5 so it more likely he'll end up at 5'7 or 5'8. A 5 to 6 inch growth spurt as 16 is pretty rare but there have been cases of that. Most of the large growth spurts happen between 11-14. 5'7 is average height of an american male at his age from what I'm reading. I was 5'11 at his age and now I'm 22 and grew 2.5 inches to barely 6'2. His height should hardly be an issue. You can name so many good to great footballers from 5'6-5'8
Can we please not turn this into that debate? I'm not a fortune teller. I compared his current abilities to someone similar. If he changes, the comparison changes.
Named to the US squad for the CONCACAF U17 qualifying tournament: GK: William Pulisic (Richmond United/USA); Kevin Silva (Players Development Academy/USA) DF: Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls/USA); Hugo Arellano (LA Galaxy/USA); Daniel Barbir (West Bromwich Albion FC/ENG); Tanner Dieterich (Real Salt Lake Arizona/USA); John Nelson (Internationals Soccer Club/USA); Matthew Olosunde (New York Red Bulls/USA); Alexis Velela (San Diego Surf/USA) MD: Eric Calvillo (Real SoCal/USA); Lucas de la Torre (Fulham FC/ENG); Thomas McCabe (Players Development Academy/USA); Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund/GER); Alejandro Zendejas Saavedra (FC Dallas/USA) FW: Pierre da Silva (Orlando City SC/USA); Orrin Gaines II (Lonestar SC/USA); Joe Gallardo Jr (Monterrey/MEX); Joshua Perez (unattached); Brandon Vazquez (Club Tijuana/MEX); Haji Wright (unattached)