Christian Pulisic | Chelsea player

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They've signed Torres and David Luiz. Twice!
David luiz has been a great servant to this club won everything, the heart him and cahill showed in the cl final win playing 120 mins both rushed back from hamstring injuries i believe, not to mention his pen in the shootout. Considering we signed him twice for a total of 53 mil and sold him once for 50 i dont see how in any way shape or form this is a bad deal.
 

Sauldogba

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Wow, I know they don't always get it right but Chelsea always seem to get the players others want to sign. Christ there is a long list.....
Because apart from maybe lukaku they dont dilly dally.
They see who they want,target them early then get their man.
None of this last minute of deadline day bull
 

Sauldogba

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I dont think i have ever seen him play before but ive heard he is a top talent that many on here rate highly
 

Suedesi

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Just imagine if we had Zorc handling transfers.
Their transfer strategy is to cast a wide net and keep the best catch. Then they sell that catch and buy a bigger net. Rinse and repeat. It has its limitations, as we’ve seen in the last couple of years.

They have spent 250 million in 3 seasons (gross), with the average transfer fee in that period being well below 20 million. With that kind of policy, eventually they're bound to run into talent that can actually cut it.

Yes, there's Sancho, Witsel, Akanji, Hakimi, etc. but there’s also Yarmolenko, Schurrle, Rode, Isak, Mor, Toprak, etc. It’s not exactly a masterclass in squad renewal.
 

TehRed

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Pulisic has got all the tools and all the potential to become a top player, but his output so far hasn't been anything incredible. I'm not sure if Chelsea are viewing him as the Hazard replacement should he finally bugger off to Real, or if they are just preparing for the likes of Willian and Pedro moving on (aged 30 and 31 respectively) by buying Pulisic and trying to keep hold of Hudson-Odoi. Buying him suggests that someone has to be leaving.
 

Sphaero

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Their transfer strategy is to cast a wide net and keep the best catch. Then they sell that catch and buy a bigger net. Rinse and repeat. It has its limitations, as we’ve seen in the last couple of years.

They have spent 250 million in 3 seasons (gross), with the average transfer fee in that period being well below 20 million. With that kind of policy, eventually they're bound to run into talent that can actually cut it.

Yes, there's Sancho, Witsel, Akanji, Hakimi, etc. but there’s also Yarmolenko, Schurrle, Rode, Isak, Mor, Toprak, etc. It’s not exactly a masterclass in squad renewal.
So, it´s that easy, huh? Just buy enough players and eventually you find gold. Too bad that the facts don´t match here. We don´t really buy players in a higher quantity than comparable clubs and Zorc IS extremely good in finding value in the modern overheated market. Many players with similar quality and potential as Akanji, Witsel or Alcacer went for twice as much as we spend for. With the exception of Reus our DoF reassembled our entire axis (CB,CM and CF) for round about 130 Mil. € in fees, which basically means he bought half our current first team with the money from the Dembele deal. 130 Mil. € sounds a lot, but top clubs spend that kind of money on 2 to max 3 players nowadays.

That doesn´t mean that there were no bad deals. Of course there were, the football market is far too unpredictable and volatile for this not being the case. I give you the first three names you mentioned, although in Yarmolenko´s case we recouped the vast majortiy of the fee we spend on him. Emre Mor was talent signing with high potential, who did not make the cut and was then sold with a profit. That deal actively made us money (even if we take the wages into account), how the heck is that a negative example? I would not be surprised if the Isak ends up being a similar case. What Toprak makes on these lists I will never understand. The guy is a valuable squad player, costs as much as a squad player (both in fees and wages), does not complain and performs when he is needed. That is an everyday transfer in pretty much all clubs.

Overall the balance between good and bad deals under Zorc is tipped firmly in the first direction, which is quite frankly one of the biggest reasons, why a club like ours, which still runs on a certain budget, can compete with richer clubs
 

lewwoo

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How do we keep missing out on these players in posistions we need. He is even a Utd fan.
 

lewwoo

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Not sure he is good enough to be honest
Maybe not but surely a decent option on our right side compared to what we have there at the moment. Worth a punt at least for £60 mill in January considering our low spend last summer.
 

Cassidy

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Maybe not but surely a decent option on our right side compared to what we have there at the moment. Worth a punt at least for £60 mill in January considering our low spend last summer.
Disagree, I do think we should be looking at RW but feel there would be better options at that price. Still I think waiting till summer and a DOF and manager makes sense.
 

lewwoo

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Disagree, I do think we should be looking at RW but feel there would be better options at that price. Still I think waiting till summer and a DOF and manager makes sense.
I hope you are right and we are keeping our powder dry for something big in the summer.
 

cyberman

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Chelsea are the second most popular club in the US after United (according to a 2017 study).
So having Pulisic didn't propel Dortmund to US domination or open up a money tree for them?
I actually don't mind Chelsea, you buy and sell like a proper club these days, if anything you underspend for a top 4 EPL club but this signing doesn't make an ounce of sense to me.
 

Kentonio

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So having Pulisic didn't propel Dortmund to US domination or open up a money tree for them?
I actually don't mind Chelsea, you buy and sell like a proper club these days, if anything you underspend for a top 4 EPL club but this signing doesn't make an ounce of sense to me.
Willian and Pedro are both in their 30's. We have CHO there but he's only 18 and probably needs another season or two to break though. Bringing in Pulisic now when he can get lots of appearances but isn't the sole option in that position seems to make good sense. Him and CHO can develop into their roles, and we can phase out the older players by the end of next season.
 

Inigo Montoya

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It must be shit doing scientific studies these days. You spend months gathering data, conducting interviews and compiling results, and then people just go 'Bet you're wrong'. :p
If you spend months gathering data like that, you need a new purpose in life:p
 

BluesJr

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Sancho is keeping him out the team so I don’t see why anyone is that fussed tbh. Great deal for Dortmund.
 

Inigo Montoya

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Sancho is keeping him out the team so I don’t see why anyone is that fussed tbh. Great deal for Dortmund.
German media claim that he hasn't actually performed anywhere near the level he has been hyped up to be.
Great business for Dortmund;shame for Hudson-Odoi and other academy players
 

RochaRoja

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Sancho is keeping him out the team so I don’t see why anyone is that fussed tbh. Great deal for Dortmund.
Sancho is arguably the best teenager in the world, there’s no shame in that. Pulisic still has excellent potential.
 

BluesJr

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Sancho is arguably the best teenager in the world, there’s no shame in that. Pulisic still has excellent potential.
Just don’t think it’s one to be that bothered about, certainly don’t see him as an elite player or even potential to be.
 

Escobar

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I think he's overrated but let's see next year. I believe and hope we're in for a better player
 

NotoriousISSY

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Don't see the hype. He seems like a reasonably good player who is very good on the eye, without being as effective as a player in that position needs to be.

From a marketing perspective though you can't knock Chelsea.

There are better footballers out there for sure.
 

Kentonio

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If you spend months gathering data like that, you need a new purpose in life:p
It wasn't me personally to be fair, it was a sports science data company. It seems like a pretty appropriate thing for them to be studying all things considered. ;)
 

Suedesi

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So, it´s that easy, huh? Just buy enough players and eventually you find gold. Too bad that the facts don´t match here. We don´t really buy players in a higher quantity than comparable clubs and Zorc IS extremely good in finding value in the modern overheated market. Many players with similar quality and potential as Akanji, Witsel or Alcacer went for twice as much as we spend for. With the exception of Reus our DoF reassembled our entire axis (CB,CM and CF) for round about 130 Mil. € in fees, which basically means he bought half our current first team with the money from the Dembele deal. 130 Mil. € sounds a lot, but top clubs spend that kind of money on 2 to max 3 players nowadays.

That doesn´t mean that there were no bad deals. Of course there were, the football market is far too unpredictable and volatile for this not being the case. I give you the first three names you mentioned, although in Yarmolenko´s case we recouped the vast majortiy of the fee we spend on him. Emre Mor was talent signing with high potential, who did not make the cut and was then sold with a profit. That deal actively made us money (even if we take the wages into account), how the heck is that a negative example? I would not be surprised if the Isak ends up being a similar case. What Toprak makes on these lists I will never understand. The guy is a valuable squad player, costs as much as a squad player (both in fees and wages), does not complain and performs when he is needed. That is an everyday transfer in pretty much all clubs.

Overall the balance between good and bad deals under Zorc is tipped firmly in the first direction, which is quite frankly one of the biggest reasons, why a club like ours, which still runs on a certain budget, can compete with richer clubs
Just recently, BVB has sold Hummels, Mkhi, Gundogan, Dembele. You got a combined 220m from those transfers, and spent, as far as I can tell, 79m on replacements at those positions. I don’t see Zorc and Watzke reinvesting more than a fraction of the Pulisic money into your squad.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet, but BVB have tried replacing the aforementioned sales with a LOT more than just the players you’ve mentioned. Even for a club like Dortmund – who I think is very good at evaluating talent – you’re almost always going to have more ‘misses’ than ‘hits’. Obviously nobody hits on 100% of their transfers – but I think many BVB fans would agree that many times they’d rather have seen Dortmund buy one or two top-level players rather than a handful of 15, 20, 25m players. (Whether or not those top players actually want to transfer to Dortmund is, of course, another question for another day)

So, Diallo and Akanji have great potential, I rate both of them. But Hummels was also a world-class CB for a LONG time with Dortmund. Will either of Diallo or Akanji replicate that consistency AND stick around with the team? I think that’s the type of questions that we really need to ask here. We can say "Dortmund did better with investing the money from the sales of Hummels/Mkhi/Dembele/Gundogan to get players like Witsel, Akanji, Diallo, etc etc etc" but what’s really important is whether or not they’ll be able to keep those players. I’m not sure that selling, buying a potentially more valuable replacement, and turning around and selling them is much progress. It’s always been about keeping players, I think.
 

Acrobat7

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Willian and Pedro are both in their 30's. We have CHO there but he's only 18 and probably needs another season or two to break though. Bringing in Pulisic now when he can get lots of appearances but isn't the sole option in that position seems to make good sense. Him and CHO can develop into their roles, and we can phase out the older players by the end of next season.
What gives you hope that CHO is staying? The German media seldomly reports as aggresive about Bayern going after a player than in the current case. Where there is smoke, there is fire. And Bayern wouldn’t be going for him, if they were not convinced he‘s available.
 

Runner

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David luiz has been a great servant to this club won everything, the heart him and cahill showed in the cl final win playing 120 mins both rushed back from hamstring injuries i believe, not to mention his pen in the shootout. Considering we signed him twice for a total of 53 mil and sold him once for 50 i dont see how in any way shape or form this is a bad deal.
I think people struggle to differentiate the Chelsea Luis and the 7-1 Luis. He's been good for Chelsea and that 50m sale was incredible.
 

L1nk

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I would like to hear people's better alternatives that we should go for, with as much talent, around the same age (20) and for around the same price, as Pulisic. Realistic alternatives mind, not Sancho or Mbappe, because they aren't coming here.
 

Man of Leisure

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He has talent to make it. He will make Chelsea money back on shirt sales, young American kids seeing the best American player in Chelsea kids growing up are going to become Chelsea fans because of him the same way I became a United fan as a boy because of Ronaldo.
Precisely why I thought United would be in for him. If there’s one thing that Woody gets, it’s the commercial side of things.
 

Sayros

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Sancho is keeping him out the team so I don’t see why anyone is that fussed tbh. Great deal for Dortmund.
It's a world-class deal for Dortmund, which happens often with them, and they get to keep him until the end of the season. The kid was running down his contract, and they managed to get an incredible fee based on a potential that may or may not be exposed. Now, compare that to the way PSG is going to lose Rabiot for a thank you and there's the huge difference a great director of football makes.
 

RooneyLegend

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Just recently, BVB has sold Hummels, Mkhi, Gundogan, Dembele. You got a combined 220m from those transfers, and spent, as far as I can tell, 79m on replacements at those positions. I don’t see Zorc and Watzke reinvesting more than a fraction of the Pulisic money into your squad.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet, but BVB have tried replacing the aforementioned sales with a LOT more than just the players you’ve mentioned. Even for a club like Dortmund – who I think is very good at evaluating talent – you’re almost always going to have more ‘misses’ than ‘hits’. Obviously nobody hits on 100% of their transfers – but I think many BVB fans would agree that many times they’d rather have seen Dortmund buy one or two top-level players rather than a handful of 15, 20, 25m players. (Whether or not those top players actually want to transfer to Dortmund is, of course, another question for another day)

So, Diallo and Akanji have great potential, I rate both of them. But Hummels was also a world-class CB for a LONG time with Dortmund. Will either of Diallo or Akanji replicate that consistency AND stick around with the team? I think that’s the type of questions that we really need to ask here. We can say "Dortmund did better with investing the money from the sales of Hummels/Mkhi/Dembele/Gundogan to get players like Witsel, Akanji, Diallo, etc etc etc" but what’s really important is whether or not they’ll be able to keep those players. I’m not sure that selling, buying a potentially more valuable replacement, and turning around and selling them is much progress. It’s always been about keeping players, I think.
Dortmund is in a lose, lose situation. They are way to poor to keep elite players.
 

SportingCP96

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Precisely why I thought United would be in for him. If there’s one thing that Woody gets, it’s the commercial side of things.
It would of made the perfect sense United the biggest club in the world marketing wise alongside Madrid an Barca signing the most talented American kid and the poster boy along with him being talented its a win win low risk high reward.
 

Keeps It tidy

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I think people great overestimate the marketing and commercial impact signing a player can have. Unless it is Cristiano, Messi or Neymar it probably will not matter much. Manchester United's "Brand" is huge regardless.
 

SAFMUTD

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I would like to hear people's better alternatives that we should go for, with as much talent, around the same age (20) and for around the same price, as Pulisic. Realistic alternatives mind, not Sancho or Mbappe, because they aren't coming here.
I think there are other options than him, of course he may end being a true talent, but right now the sum seems excesive for a player that was having his worst season since he broke through.

Other realistic options available for that money:

Bernardeschi - Juventus - 24 y.o.
talented player doesn't get much hype due to being in the same team as Cristiano and Dybala, but really talented.

Leon Bailey - Bayer Leverkusen - 21 y.o.
had a great season last year, I dont really know how this season has been for him. But he seemed a great talent.

Hirving Lozano - PSV - 23 y.o.
great breakout season last year and having a good season this year as well, although the Eredivise level is way below the Bundesliga.

Pablo Fornals - Villareal - 22 y.o.
really talented spanish player , won’t be long before he ends up at a bigger club. I think his buy out clause is below 30 million.

Saint Maximin - Nize - 21 y.o.
another young french talent, haven’t seen him play much but is talked as one of the hot prospect from league 1.

David Neres - Ajax - 21 y.o.
Another gem from the Ajax squad.

Federico Chiesa - Fiorentina 20 y.o. - regular player for Fiorentina, International with Italy and only 20 years old.

Cenzig Under - Roma 20 y.o.
regular player for Roma, truly talented a lot of skill and pace.

Of course all of them, except Bernardeschi IMO, are players with much to prove in a tougher league/team. But they have the same (or more) potential than Pulisic.

Yes Pulisic is a good prospect but people needs to stop talking about him as he was the only option we could get.
 

Man of Leisure

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I think people great overestimate the marketing and commercial impact signing a player can have. Unless it is Cristiano, Messi or Neymar it probably will not matter much. Manchester United's "Brand" is huge regardless.
Nah, Pulisic is already more talented and has achieved more than any other American footballer his age. By the time his career is over, Pulisic will likely be the best American footballer ever. In a market where viewership for the sport is growing leaps and bounds, it’s a no-brainer. Think about how many more Americans follow soccer/football these days compared to 10-15 years ago. I mean shit, even NBA and NFL players are playing FIFA, wearing kits, and attending World Cups. On top of that, United is owned by Americans. The US market is still untapped and a green field. Think Ji Sung Park/South Korea x10. From a commercial sense, it’s as guaranteed as you get (those pre-season American tours will be even more of a cash cow than they are now). From a football perspective, lot less so but still the likelihood of Pulisic coming good are decent.
 
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Nah, Pulisic is already more talented and has achieved more than any other American footballer his age. By the time his career is over, Pulisic will likely be the best American footballer ever. In a market where viewership for the sport is growing leaps and bounds, it’s a no-brainer. Think about how many more Americans follow soccer/football these days compared to 10-15 years ago. I mean shit, even NBA and NFL players are playing FIFA, wearing kits, and attending World Cups. On top of that, United is owned by Americans. The US market is still untapped and a green field. Think Ji Sung Park/South Korea x10. From a commercial sense, it’s as guaranteed as you get (those pre-season American tours will be even more of a cash cow than they are now). From a football perspective, lot less so but still the likelihood of Pulisic coming good are decent.
But, in the US you see kids mostly in Cristiano, Neymar, Messi, etc shirts. They are going to want to support the best. I feel US Soccer is in a place where they are not desperate for an American "star" anymore. And I feel everyone overestimates the marketing impact Park Ji Sung had.