Today we celebrate the 22nd birthday of Chelsea star Christian Pulisic by taking a brief look back on the player’s career story.
Popularly known as ‘Captain America’, Christian Pulisic made a good start to his debut season for Chelsea last term.
Coming into a new campaign, the USMNT star will be looking to build on his earlier success as the Blues look to challenge for silverware.
Injuries stopped Pulisic from keeping a consistent form last season but the midfielder has shown just enough to tell he could be one of Chelsea’s most important players in due time.
Footballing heritage from the onset
Born on September 18, 1998. Pulisic was born to Kelley and Mark Pulisic. Both played collegiate soccer at George Mason University and it was no surprise their son would take the same route.
Fast forward to age seven where he would go on to start his football career. Pulisic spent a year playing for the youth team of Brackley Town and decided to take things a step further.
He then spent a year with American side Michigan Rush before spending another seven years with P.A Classics.
Move to Europe – Big break with Borussia Dortmund
Christian Pulisic joined the German club, Borussia Dortmund under the youth setup from PA classics on a free transfer in 2015. He was only 16 at the time.
After a year he was promoted to the senior side and made his professional competitive debut in the senior side on the 30th of January 2016. He came on as a second-half substitute in his team’s 2-0 win over FC Ingolstadt.
Pulisic broke some records in Germany which include being the youngest non-German and fourth-youngest player to score a Bundesliga goal at 17 years and 212 days old in a match against Hamburger on the 17th of April 2016.
He helped his team win the DFB Pokal in the 2016/2017 season. He was already a first-teamer with Dortmund before another big move came calling.
Big transfer to Chelsea
The USMNT star joined the Blues in a deal worth €65m from Borussia Dortmund in January 2019.
Pulsic was loaned back to the Bundesliga giants before returning to join his new teammates last summer.
If anything at all, the 21-year-old has lived up to the hype that saw Chelsea churn out that much for a youngster.
A slow start to his Blues career saw Pulisic pick form towards the turn of last year with the highlight his hat-trick against Burnley.
His tally of nine goals and four assists meant he had the most goal contributions for any player 21 and below last season. If not for injuries here and there, that tally could have even been better.
Pulisic scored the opening goal for Chelsea in the FA Cup final against Arsenal but couldn’t finish the game due to injury. The Blues went on to lose that match.
The USMNT star has already drawn comparisons to Eden Hazard and has started his Chelsea career on a good note so far. More is expected of him in the current campaign.