It’s amazing how much difference a few short weeks can make. If you had suggested to any Liverpool fan that they could sign Christian Pulisic before the World Cup, you would have probably been greeted by an unenthused sigh and roll of the eyes.
But a goal and two assists in an impressive showing for the United States at the 2022 World Cup, along with confirmation that Luis Diaz will miss a further three months of the season after undergoing knee surgery, and suddenly you have Kopites’ attention.
It was reported earlier this week that the Reds are interested in signing the winger from Chelsea. 90min claimed that both Liverpool and Newcastle United would like the 24-year-old on loan, who is said to be desperate to leave Stamford Bridge to reignite his career.
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On paper, a move would perhaps make sense for the Reds and you can see why they have found themselves linked with the American. He is a former target after all, with Liverpool seeing an £11m bid rejected for his services by Borussia Dortmund back in 2016.
Having worked with Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund, both player and manager have been full of praise for each other in the past with the German a keen admirer of his former winger, as demonstrated by his efforts to bring him to Anfield six years ago.
With Diaz and Diogo Jota both out injured for the foreseeable, Liverpool are down to three available senior forwards. It remains to be seen what they plan to do in January, but it’s easy to hypothesise why a loan deal for Pulisic could appeal, given the uncertainty behind the scenes at Anfield as FSG search for new investors/owners while the Reds continue to be linked with a potential club-record move for Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham.
Throw in the fact that the winger knows both the Premier League and has played under Klopp before, is still young and is capable of filling the enforced left-wing vacancy in Liverpool’s starting XI, as well as lining up on the opposing flank, leading the line or behind a main striker, and what’s not to love about such a low-risk acquisition?
Yet we wouldn’t even be having this conversation if Diaz had not suffered a setback just as he looked to return from a knee injury that had kept him sidelined since October. Before the World Cup, to Reds fans Pulisic was nothing more than a former target who couldn’t get in the Chelsea starting XI, having started just five of his 18 appearances so far this season.
In truth, he has rarely been a consistent first-choice at Stamford Bridge and lost his place under former manager Thomas Tuchel. With the German signing Raheem Sterling in the summer, he has not been restored by successor Graham Potter, and starting opportunities will only dwindle as they eye up moves for the likes of RB Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku and AC Milan's Rafael Leao.
While his CV might read Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup winner with Chelsea, his actually decisive involvement over the years has dwindled.
In 2019/20, his first season with the club, he did impress as he started 27 of his 34 appearances and returned 11 goals and 10 assists. He’d even score in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Man City which handed Liverpool the Premier League title, before registering both a goal and an assist at Anfield as the Reds ran out 5-3 winners on the night they lifted the trophy.
Yet since then, returns have declined despite trophies and cup finals following. He’d make 43 appearances in 2020/21 but only 25 from the start as he scored six goals and recorded four assists. In 2021/22 his returns stood at 38 appearances, 21 starts, eight goals and five assists.
And this season he has just one goal and two assists to show from 18 appearances. With five of them being from the start, no wonder speculation regarding his future continues.
Meanwhile, long-term absences from an abductor muscle injury in 2019/20, a hamstring injury in 2020/21 and an ankle injury last season, along with other smaller muscle setbacks, have presented a picture of an injury-prone player. Such a narrative was not aided by a pelvic contusion he suffered during the World Cup.
In truth, while Liverpool might have been interested in the winger back in 2016, the fact that they didn’t rival Chelsea for his signature when they snapped him up for £58m back in 2019 speaks volumes.
Pulisic’s time at Stamford Bridge has not been easy. In his autobiography released earlier this year, he revealed that he suffered with depression while he was injured in 2020 and during times that he did not get much playing time. Should he leave Chelsea, he will no doubt look to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah as the next great player that the Londoners mismanaged and let slip through their fingers.
But while Liverpool, on paper at least, would be one of the best destinations to make such a point, reunited with one of the best man-managers around in Klopp, such a prospect seems rather unlikely.
Club sources have emphatically dismissed the notion of the Reds being interested in Pulisic. Meanwhile, even the original report from 90min conceded that Chelsea would be reluctant to bolster a Premier League rival and would instead prefer to send the winger overseas.
Of course, Chelsea haven’t been against transfers with Premier League rivals before, with a number of players moving directly between Anfield and Stamford Bridge in recent years.
Yossi Benayoun, Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles all left Liverpool for Chelsea in successive transfer windows between the summer of 2010 and the summer of 2011. Meanwhile, Daniel Sturridge and Victor Moses would both make the move the other way in 2013, with the latter even joining on loan.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have also willingly sold David Luiz, Petr Cech, Lassana Diarra, and William Gallas to Arsenal, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata to Manchester United, and Wayne Bridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Tal Ben Haim to Man City since their own emergence as Premier League title contenders. But they’re not run by Roman Abramovich anymore following Todd Boehly’s takeover in the summer.
And while Liverpool might have emerged as title contenders, albeit only briefly under Brendan Rodgers in 2013/14, let’s face it, the direct business between themselves and Chelsea came when the Reds were not considered dangerous rivals. Now they have won every major honour going under Klopp, are a much stronger team even in comparison to when they were interested in Pulisic six years ago, and, despite recent struggles, remain one of the very best sides in the world.
Things are rather different than the time of those aforementioned deals, and not just because it’s a new era under Boehly at Stamford Bridge. A Premier League ‘Big Four’ has become a ‘Big Six’, and if we’re being honest, Saudi-financed Newcastle United are on the verge of making it a ‘Big Seven’.
Liverpool have ground to make up if they want to finish in the top four this season with the Reds currently in sixth, seven points behind Tottenham Hotspur and the Champions League places. Yet Chelsea are even further back, two places and a point behind Klopp’s men. The two sides are in direct competition to qualify for Europe’s elite competition, both well aware of the financial ramifications if they miss out.
Even if Anfield sources hadn’t dismissed interest in Pulisic, it would be rather foolish of Chelsea to sanction a switch to Liverpool, especially if only a loan, at the risk of the American helping fire them into the Champions League at the Londoners’ expense. Considering what De Bruyne and Salah are currently achieving with Man City and the Reds, they are undoubtedly also scarred by their previous transfer misfires.
Pulisic to Liverpool is a nice idea and an easy one to theorise as the Reds weigh up whether they will seek a replacement for Diaz once the January transfer window re-opens. But it’s also an easy one to dismiss.
Liverpool could indeed move for a new forward next month, but, not for the first time, they have seemingly long since moved on from that initial interest in Pulisic all those years ago.
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