Christian Pulisic was not brought to Chelsea by Frank Lampard; he was Maurizio Sarri’s guy. Signed in January for transfer the following summer, there was plenty of hype and anticipation among the Chelsea faithful for the American’s arrival.
In the early part of the season, Pulisic was buried on the Blues depth chart and his situation at his new club was not promising. However, he did produce in the rare instances that he was called upon, and his assist rate per game was excellent. The 21-year-old got more chances, and before you know it, a scoring spree ensued. His hat trick on October 26 was certainly the turning point/breakout performance.
Pulisic has six goals and six assists in 17 appearances thus far this season.
With two more goals he’ll set a new single-season high. Eight more assists will give him a new single season in that statistical category. He didn’t score or assist today, in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa, but he made a major, positive impact for his team in numerous different areas.
Lampard was asked about his budding star, and the 41-year-old believes that he’s just below the top level of individual players in world football and possesses the potential to get there.
“Really impressed. I think he is playing really well,” said Lampard.
“Since he came into the team, at Burnley got those goals and carried on with his form. He can score more but we’ve got a player in Christian that is really exciting and when you see this type of player in the modern day and you see their quality.”
“He has got the ability to go on to the extra level, which is the top level of world football. At the minute he is doing really well and I hope he keeps that up.”
Just a few months ago we were discussing how Pulisic was in a bad situation, because Chelsea is so loaded at the winger position. Now we’re talking about how he’s one of the side’s most valuable players. Pulisic and Chelsea are back in action on Saturday with a league fixture at Everton.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is 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,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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