The 20/21 season has not yet begun in earnest for Christian Pulisic, as he’s only played a handful of minutes so far. However, the American is fully match fit now, and once we get to the other side of the international break, when Chelsea takes on Southampton on October 17, we should see the left sided attacking midfielder in full bore.
During the restart period, from mid-June until the end of the 2019/20 season, we really saw the full potential of Pulisic. Captain America benefited as much as anyone from the prolonged covid-19 shutdown. The extra time off gave the 22-year-old a genuine chance to fully recover from an abductor injury he suffered on New Year’s Day.
He then proceeded to go on a purple patch that conveyed to the world why some call him “Pennsylvania Messi.” It was certainly a roller coaster ride for the most expensive American footballer ever. At first he had to fight for playing time, then once he got there, the injury bug bit. He missed out on a lot of potential playing time, but he also made the most out of his minutes.
He scored a hat trick against Burnley, and produced astonishingly productive and efficient scoring statistics. In a very detailed interview this break, he reflected on his first season at Stamford Bridge, and declared high ambitions for his side, a club that was essentially 2020 summer transfer window champions.
“A lot of ups and downs,” Pulisic responded when asked to look back on 2019-20 in an all-encompassing, wide-ranging interview with CBS Sports.
“It’s tough to describe with the pandemic and everything that hit. It seemed like a lot of things were changing all the time. Coming back from an [abductor] injury, I felt I had a new beginning and a really strong end to the season. So I was definitely proud with how I finished it off. ”
“But I think I just learned so much. Whether it was not being involved at the beginning as much — not playing as much — to getting into my role and finding my role on the team. I think I improved a lot. Just learned so much, so I’m really happy with where I stand now with the club.”
Pulisic was also asked about the differences between the English Premier League and German Bundesliga.
“I think there are definitely similarities and differences,” he answered.
“I feel like I’ve grown in confidence and I’m more comfortable on a week-to-week basis. There are strong teams in both leagues. I wouldn’t put too much of a difference there. But I think schedule-wise as far as games coming back-to-back in the winter time, it’s a bit more difficult over here. As far as the league, I think they’re both really strong. I’m happy to be in the Premier League now.”
Now that he’s been added the legendary No. 10 shirt at Chelsea, the expectations, already massive to begin with, have been raised even higher.
For the full CBS Q&A with Pulisic go to this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.