There can be no doubt that Christian Pulisic’s $73 million move to Chelsea was the biggest move ever for an American footballer, and by all appearances it appears as though the 20-year-old is the most impressive American footballer yet. Nevertheless, Pulisic faces intense competition for playing time despite starting Chelsea’s last two matches.
Although he was unfairly, heavily criticized by Chelsea fans, Willian is an absolutely world-class Brazilian footballer who Pulisic will be competing with for playing time. As Pulisic plays as a wing for Chelsea, he also will competing with Pedro and Mason Mount for minutes.
While Pedro and Willian are already both world-class players, Mount also looks to be an elite player who plays with great technique, creativity, directness, and speed. Mount like Willian or Pulisic or Pedro for that matter plays well centrally as a playmaker, and this allows Chelsea’s manager Frank Lampard to have quite a bit of flexibility with his attacking lineup.
In short, having four excellent attacking midfielders/wingers/forwards is a great problem for Lampard to have, but from an American fan’s perspective it also means Pulisic might not be starting every match and going 90 minutes.
On paper it would appear that Pedro and Willian are far superior to both Mount and Pulisic, and there is a possibility that Lampard could deploy Ngolo Kante and Jorginho as the central or defensive midfielders with Pedro, Kovacic, and Willian lining up in front of them as a line of three.
Kovacic is another world-class player for Chelsea as Kante and Jorginho are, and his ability to be deployed as a true attacking midfielder or playmaker behind Olivier Giroud should not be underestimated. Kovacic didn’t always get as much playing time as he deserved at Real Madrid, but he’s an elegant, graceful, and creative playmaker who deserves his starting spot for Chelsea. This reality makes the competition between Mount and Pulisic even stiffer.
Nevertheless, Pulisic has proven himself to be an electric and aggressive attacker with great creativity and directness, and the presence of stiff competition at Chelsea will not impede his progression as a player or his rise to fame. Let’s not forget that Pulisic already played for Borussia Dortmund, one of the top clubs in the world. The Premier League would appear to be more en vogue than the Bundesliga right now rightly or wrongly, and this will only increase Pulisic’s game and quest to demonstrate that the United States has finally produced a world-class player.