Christian Pulisic has made the clearest indication yet that he is looking to leave Chelsea this summer as he all but admitted he would be moving club. After a second consecutive season of frustration at Stamford Bridge, his four-year stay in London appears to be coming to an end.
The 24-year-old has been linked with a move away ever since last summer when Manchester United and AC Milan made it clear that they were interested in signing him. No such deal occurred and he was left to play out a season under four different managers, scoring just one goal.
Now, having found the net more times for his country the USMNT attacker has opened up on what has been missing during his time at Stamford Bridge.
“It’s absolutely a time where I need to figure out what’s going to be best for my future and be somewhere where I can go and play and be trusted and feel good in what I’m doing,” he said. “I want to find that joy at club level again, for sure.”
Pulisic left the USA national team camp after a successful CONCACAF Nations League campaign. He led his side to a second tournament win ahead of the Gold Cup commitments on the horizon for the rest of BJ Callaghan's squad. He will now be spending his time on holiday before returning to Chelsea to decide on his future at the club.
The Blues are touring America next month under new head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine is looking to shred his squad of up to 15 players, with Pulisic likely to depart. Earlier this month the former Borussia Dortmund attacker was coy on what is to come.
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"Obviously, it's been an interesting journey at club level for me," he admitted. "I thought it was a great couple years and the last couple years just haven't gone at all how I've planned them to be.
"And right now my focus is obviously here with the national team. I'm just excited to get back playing and just enjoy myself and do what I love to do out on the field. And from there, this summer, we're obviously going to have to see what happens.
"It's obviously very early, as of right now I'm a Chelsea player and plan to go back but a lot of things can happen, a lot of things can change."
Napoli, Juventus and AC Milan are still said to be interested in the player with West Ham, Lyon and Crystal Palace all linked with making a move for him this summer. It is also said that Chelsea will drop their valuation of the player to just £20million ($24m) in order to help the chances of a departure.
"When the time comes I need to also rest after this, get away from the game a bit and enjoy my break, see my family and all those kinds of things," he continued earlier in June. "Once it's time to make decisions and see what options I have then I'll deal with it, until then I'm just focused here."
He is looking to find a way to return to form that he has only shown in fits and starts at SW6, hitting several high points but often being rotated out of the side, moved to unfavoured positions or left to treat injuries when building up steam.
With just one year left on his initial contract with the club it is not expected that he remains with Chelsea past this summer. With ambitions of featuring in the Champions League once more, Pulisic will now be looking to find another spark to his career having been burnt out in England and left to struggle like so many of Chelsea's recent attackers.
