Christian Pulisic could be damaging his future career, which may well lie away from Chelsea, with his comments regarding Thomas Tuchel.
The American winger controversially revealed that Thomas Tuchel went back on his initial team selection for the Champions League semi-final second leg tie against Real Madrid in 2021 and admitted he was left angered by the decision.
This comes in the lead up to Pulisic, a 24-year-old, publishing a book on his career called My Journey So Far. In the book, Pulisic writes: "What happened before that game was hugely disappointing for me. l’d had a really good first leg performance and our following match was against Fulham in the league. Tuchel told me that he was resting me for the second leg and as a result, I didn’t play a single minute in the Fulham game.
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"Then on match day of the second semi, Tuchel tells me he’s changed his mind and he’s going with Kai [Havertz]. I honestly was dumbfounded and very disappointed. I thought that I’d earned a start and, most importantly, he had assured me previously I was going to start. So by the time he brought me on with about 25 minutes left, I was just so wound up."
Pulisic would go on to assist Mason Mount for the goal that confirmed progression into the final but still went ahead with writing his true feelings publicly, and the reaction from Blues fans and pundits hasn't been in support of the attacker.
With just one start so far this season and no goals or assists, Pulisic hasn't got off to a good start and failed to make much of an impact in Graham Potter's first match. It comes after a summer of transfer speculation around him with Juventus and Newcastle both interested but neither party going as far as making an official bid.
There was also an ongoing struggle between Pulisic and Tuchel with the German using him as a versatile wing-back more often than a key attacker and the pair failed to reignite their previous relationship that saw Pulisic breakthrough as a teenage sensation at Borussia Dortmund.
With poor performances on the pitch and bad publicity off it, former Liverpool, West Ham and Everton midfielder Don Hutchison said: “Oh, my days! I mean, it is ridiculously naive of Christian Pulisic. Alright, it’s his book, so he feels as though he’s got his little say against Thomas Tuchel, but is he not naive enough to think that Thomas Tuchel won’t be happy and he’ll be having words with other managers?"
Speaking to ESPN, he added: “Managers change their minds. What happens to you? You’re a little bit gutted, you’re a little bit upset. But it all just sounds a little bit babyish to me. Christian Pulisic having a whinge. What is the point? What does he gain from it?
“I think it’s naive from Pulisic, I don’t know what he gains from it. Shaka [Hislop] said about book sales, well all right that’s what he gains from it but it’s not my cup of tea. But why would you do that to a manager that could have been already at Chelsea?”
Tuchel, who was sacked as Chelsea manager three weeks ago, now replaced by Potter, had hoped he may get the best out of Pulisic but struggled much like Frank Lampard did, and Hutchison thinks it could damage the atmosphere at the club when the book is released next month.
“I think it destroys any relationship that Tuchel will ever have with Christian Pulisic. It destroys the fact that if Thomas Tuchel got a job elsewhere he would sign Pulisic, that’s not going to happen. Managers talk, I wouldn’t be surprised if Thomas Tuchel or Graham Potter is having a conversation, not so much about Pulisic but the individuals in the dressing room and it goes on and on from there.”
Chelsea had a similar outburst which curtailed their season last year when Romelu Lukaku's unsupervised interview with Sky Italy was released and the Belgian criticised Tuchel's tactics and his use of him. If Pulisic's book has anywhere near the same impact then it could be a big test for Potter to manage in the coming weeks.
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