It’s yet another example of how quickly things can change in football. It was only a few weeks ago when Christian Pulisic was constantly talking in the press about being frustrated over a lack of game time at Chelsea.
Now that he’s broken into the first team and started to impress, it seems that Chelsea have convinced the USA team that it’s best for the player to sit out of their upcoming international games.
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Their official Twitter confirmed some comments from the coach that Pulisic would not be playing:
“Christian is officially at this stage ruled out. We just got that information. This was a collaborative decision with the club. looking after the best interest of the player…”
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— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) November 11, 2019
It would be interesting to see what approach the club took if he hadn’t been playing so regularly. We often see club teams do anything they can to prevent their players from joining up with their national teams, mainly in fear of them picking up an injury or starting to burn out.
The transformation at Chelsea has been incredible from last season. Frank Lampard has introduced a lot of young players into the team and they currently sit above Man City in the table.
It might be too much to suggest they are in with a chance of winning the title, but if Pulisic can add to his five goals and two assists this season then he could play a vital role in helping them secure a top four finish at least.