New Chelsea signing Christian Pulisic has revealed that he is feeling amazing to work under new Chelsea boss Frank Lampard, as the American forward idolized the ex-England midfielder while growing up. Pulisic joined his team-mates in Japan on Tuesday for the pre-season training and admitted his delight at representing the Premier League giants for the near future. The Borussia Dortmund star was signed on a pre-contract last year and moved to Stamford Bridge quite recently.
Chelsea is in a bit of a pickle at the moment as they had two key members leave the club over the summer and have a few more issues to deal with. Earlier last month, Belgian superstar Eden Hazard left Stamford Bridge to join Real Madrid in a staggering £132m deal. The 28-year-old publicly declared his admiration and love for the La Liga giants and made the switch to the Spanish capital leaving a massive void at the West London club.
Following Hazard’s departure, even Maurizio Sarri stepped down as Chelsea’s head coach as a job vacancy at Juventus opened up. The Italian master tactician was in charge of Chelsea for only one season and helped them finish on 3rd place on the Premier League table and also win the Europa League title as well. Sarri is now replaced by Frank Lampard as the former Chelsea midfielder has only one year in management after spending a season with Championship side Derby County, nearly guiding them to Premier League promotion.
However, Lampard is now on a three year deal with Chelsea, a club that he knows quite well after spending 13 years as a player. But the 41-year-old does not have the opportunity to purchase any players over the next two transfer windows as Chelsea are undergoing a transfer ban. Lampard is still a legend at Chelsea and there are a few players who have dreamt of playing under his guidance and one of them is Christian Pulisic. The 20-year-old forward signed for Chelsea back in January from Borussia Dortmund in a £58m deal but spent the second half of the season at the Westfalenstadion on loan.
Now Pulisic will finally have the chance to play under Lampard and he spoke of his childhood dream, “When I think of this club, there are a lot of great players that come to mind. I grew up watching Frank Lampard and all of those guys at the top of their game in the Premier League and in the Champions League. To me, Chelsea was always one of the biggest teams and now to be playing here, it’s really come full circle from that moment. It feels amazing”
Pulisic is likely to be a replacement for Hazard and he has big shoes to fill, when asked about what he can offer to Chelsea, the American star explained, “I think I have a lot of speed and creativity that I can bring to the game; quickness and different attacking abilities that can really help the team. I think I have some tools that can really do well in this league [Premier League]. I just can’t wait.”