Former Chelsea star offers explanation for Christian Pulisic’s struggles
Former Chelsea man Shaun Wright-Phillips has offered an explanation for why Christian Pulisic has never quite hit the heights many expected him to after his switch from Borussia Dortmund.
Christian Pulisic linked up with Chelsea in the summer of 2019, after spending the second half of the previous campaign back on loan with Borussia Dortmund.
Since joining Chelsea, the American has showcased patches of quality, but has never really had a consistent run in the Blues’ starting eleven.
Pulisic did enjoy a purple patch at the end of 2019. In 2020/21, however, the attacker never really managed to put together a decent run, and only featured in 27 league games, in part due to injury issues. Across these appearances, the American scored four and assisted two.
In 2021/22, meanwhile, Pulisic has scored four and assisted four in 31. Not exactly eye-catching numbers.
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Wright-Phillips on Pulisic
But why has Pulisic, once regarded as one of the brightest young talents in Europe, never really shone for Chelsea?
Well, former winger Shaun Wright-Phillips seems to believe it has something to do with Pulisic being versatile: “That tends to be the way of football when you can play a lot of positions, you just do well rather than excellent.
“I can imagine that if he just played in his normal position, you would see why they bought him in the first place.”
He added on the fight an American forward faces for recognition in west London: “I wouldn’t say there is too much competition because I’m a big fan of Pulisic. I love the way he plays, I love how dangerous he looks.
“The thing he has found tough is staying fit. When he has gone into great form, he will get an injury and then it puts him back a bit, players come in and they are in form and the manager can’t drop them. “He has got everything that people believed was there, it’s just that every time he has got on that roll and started becoming that Christian Pulisic that everyone wants to see, he breaks down again.”
