Report: Chelsea Make First Bid on Christian Pulisic

Christian Pulisic Transfer Watch has officially begun, as Chelsea has apparently made the first move to bring in the young American next summer.

According to the Evening Standard, the London-based Premier League outfit has made an undisclosed bid for Pulisic Friday prior to the match against Freiburg. However, whatever Chelsea bid apparently wasn’t enough because it didn’t meet the asking price of £70 million.

Since refusing to sign a new contract with Dortmund, rumors have been swirling over where the American wonderboy will land following this season. He’s had clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich (no God please no!) all interested in bringing him in, but Chelsea has thrust themselves into the discussion with the official bid.

Despite the prospect of playing at Stamford Bridge and a potential opening following the possible departures of Eden Hazard, Pedro, and Willian, Pulisic says he would rather play for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. It’s easy to see why he’d want to play for Klopp over Chelsea; he brought in Pulisic when he was only sixteen and effectively began his professional career. He’s obviously had a big impact on Christian, and I understand the draw of playing for your favorite manager again.

Furthermore, Chelsea is one of the few clubs I don’t want to see him at. The Blues have a very noticeable reputation for buying up young, promising talent and spitting them back out the second they don’t live up to the expectations of their price tag. Just take a look at Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah; they were brought in by Chelsea and quickly shipped off when they wouldn’t produce and are now some of the most exciting players in the world at rival clubs. It would be a real shame if his career was stunted a few years because he was stuck to the bench at Chelsea. Chelsea are also very infamous for going through managers very quickly. What happens if Maurizio Sarri doesn’t last past this season and the next manager doesn’t rate Pulisic? It’s just a mess waiting to happen.

Another interesting tidbit from the release is that Dortmund will be targeting Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Thorgan Hazard as Pulisic’s replacement. Thorgan, another Chelsea reject, has been one of the best players for Die Fohlen since he arrived on loan in 2014. He has 11 goals and six assists across all competitions this season as BMG currently sit seven points behind Dortmund in the Bundesliga table.

We’ll keep you up to date on all Pulisic transfer happenings.