Christian Pulisic wants to be on the pitch and is doing his best, reveals Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel has assured supporters that Christian Pulisic is doing everything possible to be back on the pitch after he suffered an injury setback when he represented the USMNT in the international break. Pulisic joined Chelsea ahead of the 2019/20 campaign for a reported fee of £58 million.
Christian Pulisic signed for Chelsea in the winter transfer window of 2019 and the USMNT international linked up with the Blues from the start of the 2019/20 season and started the season brightly with a hattrick in October. It saw him become the youngest hat-trick scorer in the English side's history at the age of 21 years and 38 days. The former Dortmund star has gone to make 79 appearances for the Blues while scoring 18 goals and providing 14 assists across all competitions.
The 23-year-old helped the London club win one Champions League but his game-time so far this season has been poor with only one Premier League appearance as the American winger picked up an ankle injury during the last international break which has benched him. Pulisic was close to making his return for the Blues but he picked up another injury while on duty with the USMNT and it has fans concerned. But Tuchel provided an injury update on Pulisic and assured supporters that it was not a serious injury.
“He got injured during a match with the USA, with a foul, a tough foul, and he hurt his ankle. Not from a major injury or complications. It is simply the pain in the ankle that disturbs him. Once these players with quick movements like Christian, once they feel this pain and they are not free in the movement the recovery is not happening. So right now we are very, very close. He was so close to come to team training last week and had a little setback and reaction, by pain. Nothing serious. From there on we go,” Tuchel told reporters in his pre-match press conference.
“He is very impatient, of course, and he does everything and we can see him suffer in every meeting and every time we meet him here [at the training ground] he is really suffering and he wants to be on the pitch and help us. Everybody is doing his very best. Unfortunately the injury takes its time,” he added.