Pure hypothetic, as if our opinion counted for anything. But let's say a transfer offer came in deadline day to Chelsea that was agreed upon pending Pulisic's approval. Suppose he is asking your advice before he makes the final decision. What do you tell him? Chelsea, sure he will get sub minutes in league games, some cup games, and possibly some champions league minutes. But could he be a key cog at a Leeds, Everton, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Leicester, even West Ham and be THE guy who is getting 90 minutes week in and week out for a year long loan. Keep in mind, a world cup year, which is of crucial importance to his career trajectory. I guess the answer would be "it depends on the club". But......what clubs would you advise? Which ones would you say avoid? Or does he just stick it out at Chelsea?
90 minutes every single match? ... let's face it... he'll get injured. Maybe his body just isn't fortified enough yet.
Stay at Chelsea. Those are all extreme drops in club level. The guy appears in 3/4 of the games with an occasional start. He’s been, at worst, the first attacking sub off the bench the last 2.5 years. At one of the eight biggest clubs in the world. I’m glad that he wants more. But freaking Leeds isn’t more.
Hope he stays through December, gets 25 min a game, doesn’t get hurt, and arrives at the WC po’d. Then gets a January transfer (assuming Tuchel is still there) away from PL.
C) Sale to a mid-table club, i.e. Leicester. He'd presumably play regularly, and for the first time at the club-level, be expected to be the man on his team, and adapt to different game styles. He could bring these lessons to the nat'l team. I don't buy this notion he should be bubble-wrapped. We have a logjam at his positions, and up until this point, he hasn't been very good for the nat'l team against decent opposition. So he should be honest w/ himself about that & position himself to improve. Otherwise he should be under threat to have his job taken by the likes of Aaronson, Reyna, Weah, McKennie, Musah, etc.; relegating him to a super-sub-rotational role. Just like has happened to him at bigger clubs thus far.
Get out of Chelsea. Now. Tuchel has a history of choking off any attacking at any club he’s been a part of.
I say stay for now, but get out in January or June 2023 if things don't change. I'm skeptical that Pulisic pushes for a move this month. Tuchel doesn't really like him, but Pulisic somehow seems to end up just ahead of other rotational options in the Chelsea squad. Unless we see a bunch of August transfer moves by Chelsea, the same should occur again. Additionally, I feel like Pulisic himself is trying to minimize distraction at the club level, with the ultimate goal just 3 months away. I think
Agreed. Rooting for a move in January, but he may have more options next summer as Tuchel will always be holding him back. However, I don't think we need CP playing 90 every week leading up to Qatar. He isn't an inexperienced player, 20-30 minute cameos with the odd start sprinkled in is more than enough for him to stay sharp for the three months leading into Qatar. A healthy, fresh, explosive CP with something to prove in Qatar is best case scenario for the USMNT IMO.
The last sentence that I forgot to add to the above. If Pulisic truly wanted 100% out, then I think he would have pushed for a move earlier in the summer. The risk is definitely higher with a late window move.
I mean, under him, Aubameyang had the highest goal total of any player not named Lewandowski in the last 45 years of Bundesliga play. Similarly, Mbappe had arguably the best goal scoring season of his young career thus far under Tuchel. Tuchel has been overwhelmingly negative with Chelsea, but I think at least some of that is being pragmatic for the sake of results, which brought them a CL trophy. I’m not the biggest fan of him as a manager, but I also don’t necessarily subscribe to the belief that he is the antithesis of attacking play. At chelsea, a portion of the blame has to lie with the transfer policy as well. Lukaku was never the one and had a bad attitude from the jump, Werner can barely control the ball, Ziyech is talented but ultimately a limited player, etc
Abraham went to Roma and it worked great for him. He should probably go. But probably to La Liga or Serie A.
I just hope he’s not as big of a pu$$y as all you guys want him to be. He’s a class player. He’s at a class club on massive wages in one of the greatest cities in human history. Guy plays almost every week. I don’t need him to score 10 goals every season to tell me he’s a great player and (until Reyna peaks) BY FAR the greatest American footballer ever. All of you guys calling a fully fit Pulisic a “super-sub” for the USMNT are complete ass-clowns who are wasting your time watching soccer because you have no idea what you’re seeing.
I’m not sure one season in a two-team league and having one of the two transcendent players of this generation not having to share the ball with Messi is a ringing endorsement of Tuchel’s ability to coach an attack. He might have learned under Klopp, but Tuchel is a lot more Mourinho in his tactics than Klopp.
I'm not sure this will be Pulisic's decision about whether to stay or go. If Chelsea don't want him, and their actions seem to suggest they don't............then they'll sell him. Why would Pulisic want to stay there? Tuchel has now marginalized him at two clubs? I don't get it. Are we hoping that Chelsea fails under Tuchel, and he gets fired?
I actually think he should move on. It just hasn't worked at Chelsea and I don't think he'll ever get consistent playing time there. Being a sub and getting the occasional start just isn't enough. I think Newcastle would be the best (most realistic) move for him at the moment (especially for a few years). Also, I absolutely hate the Pulisic to Leeds talk from US fans and think it's a really stupid idea.
The list of clubs that can pay Pulisic's wages isn't real large, especially coming off the pandemic. Within that list, there's a number at the top end and the bottom end that probably aren't interested because of his health history relative to his price tag. People have suggested Newcastle and that makes a lot of sense because they need talent, their owners are there to sportswash so an American player makes sense, and they are rich as hell. Which is all to say, even if you get past the potential drop in prestige, potential loss of champions league play, having to move out of London, there's just a very real and likely ask by almost any destination to take a pretty significant pay cut. If not, there's a real good chance you are moving to a club where PT will be as much an issue.
If anyone attempts to say with a straight face Puli has performed well enough with Chelsea to nail down a first XI spot, they're lying. His level of performance aligns well with rotational player who should start roughly 50-60% of matches. Of course, Tuchel's system is impotent in the run of play and is why none of Chelsea's attackers are playing up to their talent level.
If it was a premier league team, absolutely no shame IMO in looking at either Leicester or West Ham. Those teams play great ball, are well coached, and theyd be ecstatic with the signing. West Ham is closer to the champions league spots than people think. They're gonna be knocking on that 4 spot this year.
Hard to say that about a guy who is a rotational player, even at a high level, who has yet to play in a World Cup. "He plays almost every week" is the definition of damning with faint praise. I'd think Pulisic himself would want to be somewhere where he can be a consistent contributor, a key player for an achieving team.