Should Chelsea Sell Christian Pulisic?

As a Chelsea fan and an American, I love Christian Pulisic. He is a wildly talented player for both club and country and has shown up on some of the biggest occasions. With clutch goals in the Nations League final as well as a beautiful solo goal against Real Madrid in the Champions League semis: Chrisitan Pulisic is a baller.

However, as we all know, Pulisic has quite the injury record. Since joining Chelsea in 2019 for a fee of £58m, the forward has suffered 11 different injurys leading to more that 35 games missed (or, more simply said, almost a year on the sideline). For Chelsea tactically, this hasn’t proved to be much of an issue. With a number of world class talents on the roster, Chelsea can afford to let Pulisic sit on the bench. However, at the end of the day, Chelsea is a business and I would highly doubt that Christian Pulisic is Marina Granovskaia’s favorite player. So, how should his future at Chelsea unfold?

The argument to keep:

A previously mentioned, Christian Pulisic is world class. His lightning like dribbles and swagger in the final third mean that whenever he is on the field, there is the possibility of spectacular. During his first season with Chelsea, Pulisic bagged 9 goals and 4 assists in the Prem and displayed a level of brilliance in the ‘post lockdown’ era of the 2019/2020 season that can only be described as Hazard-esque. His energy on the field drives the team to new heights and helps to draw the team from a slump. Think of the the 5-3 loss to Liverpool at the end of the ‘19/‘20 season. Down 4-1 in the 54th minute, the Chelsea strong felt degected and out of hope. In comes Pulisic. With a goal and an assist within his first 15 minutes on the pitch, the game was flipped on its head. Despite the unfortunate final result, Pulisic showed the world a lot that day. He showed that his impact alone can change a game and proved that he is a threat dangerous enough to worry one of the strongest defenses in Europe.

Currently, Pulisic is not flying quite as high. After suffering an ankle injury against Honduras in September, Pulisic spent the next two months on the bench and has only recently been able to come on as a subsitute. His brilliance is still there but to many, it feels very far away. Although, Chelsea still need him in their lineup. He plays an important role in the Chelsea attack as being the most direct forward. As stated earlier, Chelsea have a multitude of attacking talents, however, only Callum Hudson-Odoi has quite the level of dribbling threat that Pulisic does. His drive for goal means that he is eager to challenge opponents 1 on 1 in an effort to break down the defense. As of late, Chelsea’s dominance means that they spend most of the game possessing the ball in the opposing half. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always directly lead to goals. In the recent 1-1 draw to Burnley, Chelsea held 70% of the possession and managed 25 shots. Of the 25, only 4 of these were on target with many of the other 21 attempts being half chances from distance: a result of not being able to break the opposing deep-lying block. This is where a player like Pulisic is most important. He can give a new look to the Chelsea attack and serve as the ‘danger-man’ on the pitch, providing a level of threat and dribbiling ability that cannot be found anywhere else on the lineup.

The argument to sell:

Despite his injuries, Pulisic and his brand still hold a lot of value. Chelsea can likely sell him for a little more than they bought him and can use that money to reinvest into the club. Being an American, Chrisitan Pulisic hold a lot of marketability to American fans. This, along with his incredible abilities on the pitch mean that Chelsea can expect offers from some of Europe’s biggest clubs. With Barcelona rumors sprouting up recently as well as Liverpool’s interest from years past, it is unlikely that Chelsea will have trouble selling him. And although I would hate to see Pulisic leave the Blues, I can see how this would be the right business move. With such a big money player sitting on the bench, Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich is likely unsettled. Additionally, if there was ever going to be a time to sell, it would be now. Clubs can expect higher transfer fees over this time as buying teams are often desperate to save their seasons. With many large teams around Europe struggling, an explosive player who can change the course of a game single-handedly could be just the solution. Pulisic is also is just coming back into shape which, as of late, has not been so common. With all these stars aligning, this could be the perfect window to sell the American attacker.

If Chelsea do sell Pulisic, they will of course need to seek replacements. With players like Hakim Ziyech seemingly also on the way out, Chelsea will be a little slim on up front. However, with the stunning form of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Conner Gallagher, we may only need to look elsewhere for one replacement.

My take:

In short, I think Chelsea should wait until the end of the season to sell Pulisic. This can prove as a ‘final chance’ for Pulisic to hold his form and provide a season long impact. To do this, I don’t think Pulisic should be expecting a starting role. I assume Thomas Tuchel will continue to look to Pulisic as an impact player coming on around the 70th minute. If this is the case, I can see the Chelsea money not being convinced on his role. It seems though, whether they like it or not, this is how you get the best of Pulisic. He is an impact player. He is an additional threat to either provide a goal threat or occupy multiple opposing defenders. And, as seen in the Mexico vs. USA game last week; Christian Pulisic can make the difference. On a Chelsea team where goals are sometimes hard to come by, a player profile like Pulisic’s is greatly needed.