Joe Cole has admitted that Christian Pulisic has had his development stunted at Chelsea after a stop-start four years in London. As the 24-year-old enters the final 12 months of his deal at Stamford Bridge it is expected that he will be sold this summer.
For Chelsea and Pulisic it is a case of what might have been. With glimpses of his talent coming through during bursts of his time in England it is a reality that neither party got the best out of each other. Due to injury issues, consistent managerial unrest and an ever-growing squad to compete with, Pulisic has found himself lower and lower on the priority board.
Now, with Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Joao Felix and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just some of those competing with him - Frank Lampard has selected Conor Gallagher and N'Golo Kante in advanced positions ahead of him too - the time looks up.
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Pulisic is extremely unlikely to sign a new deal, especially with nothing to suggest he has been offered one, and faces a transfer away from SW6 at the end of the season as part of a mass clearout at the club.
Despite that, Cole thinks that there's still plenty to admire about him.
"He's a super talented footballer," the former Blues midfielder told GOAL. "He's won the Champions League with Chelsea and he played a big part by scoring important goals. It's just, I feel sorry for Christian with the amount of injuries he's got. It's really stopped his development.
"I think he needs to find his happiness again in a Chelsea shirt. It's very difficult and there's always competition. There are 31 players playing in the Chelsea squad, world-class players a lot of them. He has to find his rhythm again.
"There's no doubt he's a top, top, top footballer and he just needs to find out and work out how his body is and how he can keep himself on the pitch because, if he can do that, football is not a problem for him. He'll be fine. He's a great player."
The USMNT star was approached by Manchester United over the summer as well as being floated as an option in deals with Juventus and Newcastle but no such agreement was reached. Despite being on the scene as a player for over six years already, there's still a long career in front of Pulisic.
There will be interest in him again when the transfer window opens and although Mauricio Pochettino - who football.london still expects to become the new manager of Chelsea - is an admirer of Pulisic, a sale is still the most likely outcome.
The Argentine is set to have plenty on his plate outside of Pulisic as well. "There's no manager in the world who's going to come in, flick a switch and Chelsea are going to be where they want to be," says Cole.
"So it's going to have to be done in stages and processes. The next step in the next stage is about just settling down the players, settling on a core of the squad, the players that you're going to rely on to do the job.
"It's going to be a manager of that ilk, and it's going to take time. It's going to take time and that's one thing, unfortunately, coaches don't have so it's going to be tough to get the right man in but I'm sure that the owners are working very hard at finding that right person."
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