Christian Pulisic may go directly from the Gold Cup with the US Men’s National Team to his first preseason at Chelsea FC. His ambition is admirable, but should be tempered to ensure he lasts an entire season of four competitions.
Someone should pull Christian Pulisic aside and tell him that Maurizio Sarri’s personality and methods do not reflect those of Chelsea coaches or Premier League coaches or Italian coaches or, thankfully, anyone but Sarri himself.
Pulisic does not want his new teammates to be ahead of him with their preseason training and the impressions they make on the new manager. Pulisic is preparing to report to Chelsea’s preseason as soon as he wraps up his international duties with the US Men’s National Team. If the USMNT reaches the final of the Gold Cup, Pulisic will be in red, white and blue until July 7. His reported plan is to waive the option of taking a few weeks off following international play and proceed directly to Cobham, where players not with their national teams will have reported four days earlier.
Whether Chelsea appoint Frank Lampard as manager or anyone else to replace Maurizio Sarri, the next manager will not make nearly irreversible squad decisions based on presence and snap impressions in the first few days of preseason. Pulisic has no reason to fear that missing the first week or two will cost him the first six months of the season, as it would have under the newly-installed Juventus manager.
If anything, Lampard or soon-to-be-appointed technical staff member Petr Cech should order Pulisic to take his full allotment of down time. Pulisic should have a strike against him for rushing back, since that decision puts him at greater risk of injury during the season.
Christian Pulisic is not quite Ruben Loftus-Cheek in terms of his injury history, but he is not far off. His most recent injury came with the American team in the March international break. He missed three Borussia Dortmund games in April, after having missed three for a different injury in February. He missed five other games across three separate spells on the injury list in the first half of the season.
Pulisic had a similar experience in 2017/18, getting on and off the treatment table throughout the season.
He will not have much time to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League, as Callum Hudson-Odoi’s and Loftus-Cheek’s injury will keep him near the top of the depth chart as a winger or attacking midfielder. Even with proper rotation and squad management, he may not have many opportunities to rest and recover until the current group of injured Blues make their way back.
Chelsea are already stretched thin given Eden Hazard’s departure, the transfer ban and injuries to their hyphenated Englishmen. The other options for the first few months will be the aging Willian and Pedro, and the inconsistent Ross Barkley. The Blues need Pulisic fit and match-sharp in August, and they will need him fit and match-sharp in May. Going from the Bundesliga season to the Gold Cup to Chelsea’s preseason tour with barely a week off runs counter to the club’s needs and his overall ambition.
Pulisic does not need to worry about losing ground amongst his teammates in the early weeks of preseason. Frank Lampard knows Pulisic has a good excuse for maybe missing those first few weeks. More than that, Lampard and his staff would respect Pulisic for his maturity and sound judgment in taking that time off. Vacation and relaxation are essential parts of an athlete’s annual cycle. Ignoring them can have just as serious an impact as missing training and game time. And ignoring vacation and relaxation almost certainly leads to missing training and game time, but not by choice, when an injury occurs in the heart of the season.
Taking some time off between the USMNT and Chelsea is a selfless decision for an international. It shows his commitment to the club because it says he is doing the right thing in the summer to ensure he is there for his team when they need him most during the season.
Chelsea fans may like Pulisic’s spirit, but they will like him even more when he can play 50 games next season and not miss any time over preventable and foreseeable injuries.