I think he is because of his impact on young American moving overseas. Not the best player - LD scored huge goal's in the crest and Clint was a monster in Europe long before Americans could come over. I do think though his sale to Chelsea and what he accomplished already there and at Dortmund is a game changer for US soccer. Here's my case: https://chasingacup.com/living-history/ Listen to my "Tell Me I'm Wrong" Segment on Underdog Soccer Podcast: https://chasingacup.com/underdog-olympic-qualifying-roster/
I doubt Paderborn signed a 25 year old on a free transfer because of CP. And for all we know injuries could severely derail his career to the point he’s nowhere near Chelsea in five years. If he enjoys sustained success, sure, there’s every possibility.
Guess this is value for the YA forum. I agree with the "no". If he becomes recognized as "World Class" then the answer may be yes, but not yet. The guys that opened the doors originally - Kivorski, McBride, Reyna, I'd say are more important. I also think Clint's monster year at Fulham helped establish that YAs can be a real force in Europe. At this point, probably hard to identify the single most important player anymore. That's a good thing.
I think the most important USA player ever needs to have some actual success with the USA team. Perhaps this will be the cycle that happens, but until it does I don't think he's even in the conversation for most important player ever. He was certainly important to this specific upcoming generation, leading by example when he made it at Dortmund and now Chelsea. Other youngsters have mentioned him as an inspiration in that way. But, we've had players in Europe before, even on big teams. I need some more numbers before I can call Pulisic the most important. He's still never scored more than a handful of goals in a season (7 his last year at Dortmund are the most he has scored in a season thus far) and still hasn't qualified the USA for a World Cup. He needs actual accomplishments beyond a big price tag before he gets my vote.
No I just pay attention to what the young players say and many of them say that Pulisic is a big inspiration for them (as well as other past USMNT players).
“I’ve got to thank Christian Pulisic,” Llanez said. “He was a big part of it. If he didn’t go out there to Europe and did what he did he wouldn’t be where he’s at right now. He’s a big part of it. I feel like he’s helped a lot of Americans and I’m there now so hopefully everything goes well for me just the way like him.” Actually many of them mention him -
Bundesliga teams see Dortmund pay nothing for a 16 year old American who within three years gets sold for what? 60 million Euros? And within a year or so of Pulisic showing up we see a huge dramatic uptick in our youth players being snatched up by the Bundesliga? Yeahhhh pretty sure there is a correlation there that is not without some causation.
Paul Caliguiri, Claudio Reyna, Landon Donovan, and Clint Dempsey made Christian Pulisic's rise not that important to the future of US Soccer. You can make a stronger case that without those 4, Pulisic wouldn't have made it - as an American - to Europe, much less Llanez citing Pulisic. Why? Because without Caliguri we don't make the 90 WC, without Reyna making his mark in Europe, it's harder to set that precedent, without Reyna, Donovan and Dempsey, there's absolutely no way we have the success we had in 02 and 10.