Christian Pulisic is the feature interview in the latest official Chelsea magazine, with our new American star discussing his start to life at Stamford Bridge as well as his early memories of the sport he has already made such an impact in.
Having signed for Chelsea in January before returning to Borussia Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the 2018/19 campaign, Pulisic is now a fully-fledged member of the Blues squad and has already impressed in his first few appearances for Frank Lampard’s side.
‘I was super excited to be here the whole time after it was agreed, but I had a job to do with Dortmund so I had to focus on that,’ he told Chelsea, which is available now.
‘Now I’m here it’s amazing. Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect, but at the same time it’s everything I hoped it would be. It’s crazy to be here, to have this jersey on. It still doesn’t feel real.’
Pulisic’s rise to the top began at a young age. He grew up in Pennsylvania, in the north-east of the United States, and spent a year in Northamptonshire in England, which only helped his burgeoning love of the beautiful game flourish.
‘My earliest memories of the sport are making my own goal and just shooting this mini-ball at my dad. That’s the first thing I can remember, just shooting over and over and over. I don’t know how old I was, but it is one of the earliest things I can remember, so I must have been pretty young.
‘I wish I could remember it better than I do, but I remember playing for Brackley and I loved it here. After school every day I would go out to the court and play with these kids I barely even knew and I would just play football every single day for hours.
‘When I was young I was actually kind of into all sports. Just like any American kid I enjoyed everything, but I kept coming back to soccer. I think I knew I was good at a young age, but I specifically remember after playing for the national Under-17s team when we beat Brazil in a Nike friendly competition and I won MVP for the tournament. After that was when I truly felt like I was going to take this game somewhere, and I followed that as far as I could.’
