Donovan 'a little worried' about Pulisic

BeSoccer 5 years ago 1.5k
Pulisic.

Christian Pulisic has started just five league games for Borussia Dortmund this season and Landon Donovan is concerned.

Former United States international Landon Donovan is "a little worried" about Christian Pulisic's lack of game time at Borussia Dortmund and fears it could be the same at Chelsea.

The Blues confirmed the signing of Pulisic on January 2 for a fee of €64million, with the winger remaining at Dortmund on loan until the end of the season as they aim to secure their first Bundesliga title since 2012.

However, the 20-year-old has had to take a back seat to young England international Jadon Sancho this season and has been restricted to just five league starts.

Donovan, who made 157 appearances for USA, understands why Dortmund might not be inclined to play someone who is soon to leave the club, but is concerned that he might suffer a similar lack of playing time at Stamford Bridge.

"Candidly, I am a little worried and I think American fans should be a little bit," he told ESPN podcast Caught Offside.

"I understand the situation at Dortmund now; they are not going to play a player who is leaving in six months.

Tough result onto the next one

A post shared by Christian (@cmpulisic) on Feb 6, 2019 at 8:52am PST

"From that standpoint it should be fine but what happens if you go to Chelsea, who have a bunch of other talented players, and he doesn't get a chance to play? He needs to be playing games so that could be concerning.

"It is hard to turn down the allure of going to somewhere like Chelsea but it's the same argument I've made since I was 20 years old, when people ridiculed me for leaving [Bayer] Leverkusen; if you are not playing games at that age, you are getting worse.

"I just hope that he gets a fair opportunity to play [at Chelsea]. You just never know with a manager. So, he's got to prove he belongs there, which I'm hoping and guessing he will do, but it's going to be difficult. That's a club that's full of quality attacking players."

Mentioned in the news story

Premier League
Liga MX Apertura
B. Dortmund
L. Donovan
C. Pulišić