Christian Pulisic has had to ‘endure adversity to overcome struggle’ at Chelsea, says United States coach Gregg Berhalter, with the 21-year-old considered to have raised his game in English football.
The Blues pulled off quite the coup when luring a highly rated playmaker away from Borussia Dortmund in 2019.
A deal was done there before the Premier League giants were stung with a transfer embargo, meaning that Pulisic became the only fresh face arriving at Stamford Bridge in the last summer window.
The lack of movement in west London was not considered to be a problem, with Frank Lampard able to lean heavily on an exciting crop of academy graduates.
Pulisic has also slotted seamlessly into a youthful squad, with more experience boasted than many players of his age, and showed signs of impressive development across his debut campaign.
Six goals, including a hat-trick against Burnley, had been recorded before an untimely injury struck on New Year’s Day and football shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic.
USMNT boss Berhalter told the Chelsea Mike’d Up podcast: ‘When Christian was moving from Dortmund to Chelsea we knew there was going to be an adaptation period.
‘The Premier League is an extremely fast and physical league, and we knew time would be needed for him to get up to speed. What I really like about how his season unfolded, particularly in the beginning, is that he had to endure adversity to overcome struggle.
‘He had to get used to the English game. It took time, and as he did that he came out performing really well, helping the team and scoring goals and being influential. All these things we projected him being able to do took an understandable time period.
‘When you go into the injury period he had, it’s unfortunate because he was in such good form. The next part of it was him dealing with a serious injury. He was in a lot of pain. It was a difficult injury to come back from quickly although I know the fans wanted him back.’
Berhalter added on where Pulisic has taken his game to even greater heights: ‘The thing he’s really improved on that I’ve seen this year is his finishing ability.
‘He’s done a great job of that, and it’s something the high-level players, when you look at the top players in the world, they’re able to score a big number of goals because they have that finishing quality.’
Pulisic has proved himself to be more than capable of competing with the Premier League elite and appears set to have an important role to play in Chelsea’s young side as they build for the long-term future.
Berhalter added: ‘Some of his best actions for Chelsea have been when he’s central, playing the ball behind the line, combining and making things happen in a central position, but having moved inside from the wing.
‘Both Chelsea and us want him affecting the game, in a position where he can hurt the opponent. Sometimes it’s going to be wide, sometimes that’s going to be central.
‘It’s a different Chelsea than we’re used to seeing.
‘It’s interesting what they’re doing and that they’re still able to get results. They’ve done a great job of that with a young team. They have an athletic team with exciting players in key positions, and to me it’s been fun to watch.
‘Christian has the quality that he can adapt with a more experienced team as well, but there’s a lot of room for these players to grow and he’s in a good spot.’