Zorc: 'Pulisic will thrive in PL'

Christian Pulisic will have no issues adapting to life in the Premier League and will thrive at Chelsea, according to Borussia Dortmund's sporting director Michael Zorc. Chelsea confirmed the signing of 20-year-old Pulisic on January 2 for a fee of €64million, with the winger remaining at Dortmund on loan until the end of 2018-19 as they aim to secure their first Bundesliga title since 2012.

Pulisic has enjoyed a stellar rise to prominence at Dortmund since joining the club in 2015, and Zorc has no doubts over the youngster's ability to take the Premier League by storm. "He's a lad who comes with that typically American self-confidence," Zorc told ESPN at Dortmund's training camp in Marbella. "Many of his characteristics will help him in England where everything is just little bit more intense than in the Bundesliga. He has the pace, he's got the dribbling, he wants to get ahead at all costs. I don't know a single reason why he wouldn't make it there."

 

January 2, 2019

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has said that he knew little of the deal for Pulisic until the transfer was all-but complete, though Zorc has revealed that talks with the Blues had been ongoing for a while. "We took a collective decision with Christian's family and his agent that we would transfer him in the summer of 2019 if he didn't want to extend his contract with us," Zorc added. "That decision was taken, and it then came to pass over the last few months. "It wasn't a case of talks with Chelsea starting at Christmas and being concluded on New Year's Eve – this had been going on for weeks if not to say months."

Pulisic's signing has cast doubt over Eden Hazard's future at Stamford Bridge, while winger Callum Hudson-Odoi is of interest to Dortmund's Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.