Chelsea are reportedly set to beat Liverpool to the capture of Christian Pulisic, who could make the Premier League switch in a £70 million January deal
According to a report by Daily Mail, Chelsea have stepped up their interest in Christian Pulisic, and are readying a bid to land him in the January transfer window. The United States international, who is also being pursued by Liverpool, is at odds with Borussia Dortmund over a new deal, and an exit seems imminent.
Pulisic has been building up a burgeoning reputation for himself ever since he broke into the Borussia Dortmund first-team setup in 2016. Over the last two years or so, the 20-year-old has risen in stature considerably to become a mainstay for the Bundesliga giants. In fact, he had racked up the second most minutes by any outfield player at Westfalenstadion last season.
However, injuries and the emergence of Jadon Sancho and Jacob Bruun Larsen have restricted Pulisic’s game time this term. As a result, he has managed to start just four Bundesliga games this season, although he still has a healthy output of 3 goals and 4 assists in 12 overall appearances. But, his position at the Signal Iduna Park has Chelsea and Liverpool interested.
Additionally, the player is at odds with Dortmund over the renewal of his current deal, which ends in the summer of 2020. With less than two years remaining on his contract, Pulisic is unsurprisingly a hot property, with Chelsea and Liverpool being chief among his suitors.
Chelsea’s interest in Pulisic is pretty straightforward. Maurizio Sarri currently has just three players to man the wide areas in attack – Eden Hazard, Pedro and Willian. With Hazard nailing down the spot on the left flank, Pedro and Willian remain the options for the opposite wing.
But, the fact that both players are on the wrong side of 30 means Chelsea could do with a reinforcement in attack, making Pulisic a viable long-term target. The Blues, however, aren’t alone in pursuit of the prodigious talent, with Liverpool also showing tailing him.
In fact, the Merseyside club hold a long-standing interest in the Borussia Dortmund superstar, with Jurgen Klopp being a huge admirer of his abilities. However, Pulisic will likely have to share game time with the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Xherdan Shaqiri, if he indeed makes his way to Liverpool.
A move to Chelsea is thus, more appealing, as far as game time is concerned. And, the report suggests that the West Londoners are set to usurp Liverpool in the race to sign the United States international as well, having intensified their interest in him.
Chelsea could be hit with a transfer ban by FIFA for tapping up under-age players and are, thus, eager to push through the transfers of some of their top targets in winter itself. As far as the player’s price tag is concerned, Borussia Dortmund’s last valuation of Pulisic stood around £70 million.
The Blues should not have much of a problem shelling out the amount considering they signed Kepa Arrizabalaga for a similar sum in the summer. With Pulisic also suggesting that he would be open to making a switch to the Premier League, Chelsea would fancy their chances of snapping him up, especially with contract talks hitting a snag and Liverpool not hotly pursuing him.
