Should Pulisic stay at Chelsea or find a new team?
The American prodigy is stagnating in positions that don't match his abilities
In order to answer this question I want to make it clear that my distinct perspective is coming from someone that wants to see the USMNT succeed. That perspective will think differently than a Chelsea fan, a Pulisic fan, or anyone else that has a different agenda. In saying that you may be surprised by my answer…
The short answer to this question for me at least is for him to stay - Pulisic should stay at Chelsea at least until the end of the season. The longer answer requires a bit more nuance.
It seems insane to me that we’re concerned for a player getting 90 minutes each match day for the European champions just because he’s being played out of position. Let’s all take a deep breath, take a step back, and look at this from the perspective of the United States National Team.
Before the most recent match against Brighton where Pulisic featured as the right-sided wingback in a back 5 defensive line for Chelsea, Pulisic was the center forward covering for an injured or covid-ridden frontline of Lukaku, Werner, and Havertz. Two months ago we all wanted Pulisic to leave because of a lack of playing time and what we perceived as mistrust from Tuchel. Nowadays we’re worried about the position form of our national team’s best player even though he’s gotten 400+ minutes in the last month alone.
While it’s not a perfect scenario where our best player is playing in their best position I want to highlight a different player on the USMNT to alleviate fears of club form influencing national team form: Yunus Musah. Musah hasn’t played many minutes for Valencia so far this season in the league and when he has seen the field he has played on the right wing. When he comes to national team camp he’s a locked starter at center midfielder and he performs week in and week out.
The situation at Chelsea for Christian Pulisic isn’t necessarily as dire as Musah’s at Valencia, and yet we still can’t believe playing different positions could help Pulisic and his productivity for the national team. Recently on the podcast (USMNT defeats Bosnia then goes on Christmas break) Manny discussed why playing different positions can be a good thing for a young player, and in general I agree with his sentiment when it comes to Pulisic.
Playing center forward is not perfect I will give everyone that, but it does provide a different type of training and preparation to read different parts of the defence and understand how to make space for yourself and your shot. Those specific traits and skills can go a long way when he eventually goes back to playing left wing.
Against Brighton, Pulisic took on the right wing-back which in my mind is a better opportunity to still showcase his wide play. He had more touches, drew more fouls, and could take defenders on 1v1 from the byline unlike when he played centrally. The player health and injury situation at Chelsea is dire - this positional play won’t last forever. To give Pulisic the best chance at scoring and contributing against the world’s best he should stay at Chelsea, but I understand the worry or concern from others that think differently. There is a risk to staying in this team going into next Winter’s World Cup, and yet I don’t want to discount the impact he can have on what is at the moment the best team in Europe.