The transfer window is about to close, and that usually means a huge storm of rumors, demands, bids and stories. Deadline day has become the sport’s free agent day in the NHL or NBA (or even election night), with reporters swarming across continental Europe in spectacular physical and vehicle types. come and not come. It is only on one day in August and one day in January that you see a caravan of reporters standing in a parking lot in the rain hoping to see a car with stained windows roll by. It’s a little more fun than TSN reporters standing in the sun outside arenas and empty practice facilities on Canada Day, but maybe just for the sake of it.
This August window is even tougher, because it’s not just clubs like Barcelona and Manchester United scrambling and searching for whatever they can find on the shelves, and the last clubs they buy without replacement and drop in price, but players are frantically trying to secure bigger roles to cement their place on the World Cup roster or be as sharp as possible when that tournament takes place in November. Normally with the Summer World Cup, the players will do this in the January transfer window, and will have a much more solid handle on the position they fit into. the current team and manager when the season is half over. Trying to do that in August means trying to make a lot of guesses about where you might fit in, and then having to guess if that will be enough before people decide to go to Qatar.
That brings us to Christian Pulisic. Captain America, at least when Tyler Adams wasn’t wearing the captain’s armband. Still America’s best player, and possibly still their most talented. When the chips fell to Qatar, and the US needed a goal after 80 minutes, he’s still the man you’d count on to do some terrible things, unless Gio Reyna’s feet stop being made of cookies crispy. Both Pulisic, Gregg Berhalter and every USMNT fan want Pulisic to be playing regularly, at the start of his game, and most importantly, healthy when it comes to the World Cup.
For once, the last part is in place, now. It’s always been “for now” with Pulisic, who also tends to his own graham-cracker ligament. You can never be sure with Christian. And while few American fans will admit this, the idea of Pulisic just becoming a super-sub and starting for Chelsea in the next two and a half months is entirely possible, because the chance of that something will happen is TWANG! Much lower. Maybe he won’t be as sharp as he could be, but he will be on the pitch, and given Pulisic’s history, being on the pitch is a relief. Of course, we can all easily picture the biggest ghouls of the mainstream media who just came to watch the World Cup belching their contaminant on him if he didn’t score a hat-trick against Wales. We will worry about that later.
But Pulisic himself is not content to be just a part of Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel. He was never able to hold onto a spot in his first 11 games (even when he played for Tuchel at Dortmund), either due to his injury history or his lackluster performances. Pulisic made just 13 league appearances last season, another four in the Champions League. Mainly to make his campaign known for this. Has not featured in either of Chelsea’s first two games so far this season. That was after Raheem Sterling was brought on to strengthen the forward trio, although Romelu Lukaku was left out. So does Timo Werner. The numbers are still the same. But there are rumors that Chelsea are getting hot after Everton’s Anthony Gordon, who seem to feel they need to fill their “awkward-looking, always-disappearing” quota. Pulisic is feeling overwhelmed.
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It’s not that Pulisic would ever lose his place in the USMNT squad, and likely not even the starting lineup. But Pulisic has waited four years for this tournament, to play in it for the first time, and thanks to 2018’s full body dry heave from the entire set-up, he’s only got maybe one or two after this one left. He doesn’t want to go there and be off.
And it’s that level of desperation that led to the rumor that not only have Manchester United call about a loan, but that Pulisic didn’t laugh them out of the building. You know you’re frustrated and may not be thinking straight when you consider the offer of the biggest basketball team in the league, on the continent, and possibly on the planet. Yes, Pulisic is likely to get a lot of play, and in playing that, he could either lose his appetite for the sport entirely or fall into a deep hole at Old Trafford, that’s how they’re going.
Will Pulisic play at United? That will depend if Marcus Rashford leaves PSG, that’s another rumour. That would essentially make Anthony Martial the only competitor on the left wing of United’s attack. And even though Martial is in the fourth or fifth straight year of “best form of my life!” The stories advertise an upcoming bounce campaign, if it’s going to happen, it’s already happened. Pulisic will probably score ahead of him. Even if Rashford doesn’t move, he’s been miserable for so long that he shouldn’t be a big obstacle.
But play in what? Erik Ten Hag has just two games left in the season and can’t decide if he can play the way he wants with the players he has or has to re-adjust things to get results high enough in the table to get the players he needs. Play the way he wants. Christian Eriksen was last played as a defensive midfielder, and he is in his 30s with a heart defect. This is where they are. If Ronaldo stays, Pulisic can expect some Ronaldo coordination into his space and then bite him when Pulisic fails to pass the ball to him. Oh, and he’s going to have to do Ronaldo running and closing in on him while Ronaldo scowls and scowls and makes sure the cameras capture his level of displeasure and how he thinks the members are still alive. How to be on the team. And with the pressure already on Ten Hag, one or two poor performances anyway could see Pulisic dropped from the team and something else break the wall-ward.
Here’s another thing: Chelsea have 21 games (at least) between now and the World Cup. Fourteen in the league, six in the Champions League and one in the League Cup. Starting at the end of the month, Chelsea will essentially have a week without a midweek game until the World Cup. 21 games in 83 days, with international break. Pulisic will catch the main. The five subs ensure he’ll probably play a lot, even if it’s only for 20-30 minutes at a time. He has an injury if he doesn’t start regularly. And in a team with a clear plan, a clear style, where his role will be strictly defined. And all was no different than what he was assigned to do with America. That sounds a lot better than showing up regularly for a group that every week looks like a community theater production. Marat / Sad.
Don’t do that, Christian. Be patient, son. Just because the abyss may be staring at you doesn’t mean you have to dive headfirst into it.
