Before leaving Borussia Dortmund to join Chelsea, Christian Pulisic was heavily linked to other clubs in the Premier League big six. Most of the chatter surrounding the winger connected him to Liverpool (often citing the Jurgen Klopp connection) and Tottenham Hotspur.
There wasn’t a ton of transfer rumors implicating his favorite club when he was a child, Manchester United. That’s because the 20-year-old is reportedly not a big fan of then manager Jose Mourinho.
The Telegraph has a feature story on how Christian Pulisic cut his teeth and worked his way up the ladder in the world of global football.
Pulisic’s former coach at Brackley Town, Robin Walker, was interviewed for the piece, and made the Mourinho revelation.
“He wouldn’t go to Manchester United because of Jose Mourinho,” Walker said.
“His father couldn’t stand Mourinho, because he didn’t promote young players. It was at that point I asked: ‘What about London? That’s where it’s at.’ I was trying to sell the city. His agent agreed, saying: ‘When you make these decisions, it’s all about investment and property.’ I was delighted that he did sign [for Chelsea].”
Pulisic, a Hershey, Pennsylvania native, played one year at Brackley while his mother Kelley was working in England on a Fulbright scholarship. She earned a grant to a Fulbright teaching exchange program.
Mourinho was sacked by United last December, and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Mourinho currently works as a television pundit, so the 20-year-old would not have played under him at Old Trafford anyway. When Pulisic made the switch from Dortmund to Chelsea in January, Maurizio Sarri was in charge at Stamford Bridge, but he left for Juventus in May.
He was replaced by Frank Lampard. Pulisic made his Premier League debut against his boyhood favorite club, but wasn’t much of a factor, coming on for only the final third of the game.
He had a so-so showing in his home debut in a Chelsea shirt, and the meh performance has drawn a lot of unfair and harsh criticism his way.
Walker also added that he is a Chelsea fan, and that he believes the move to west London was best for Pulisic.
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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