Should Chelsea cash in on Pulisic in January?

Nicholas Hughes

• 13 Dec 2021 10:23 GMT
• 5 min read

Christian Pulisic’s Chelsea career has largely been limited to glimpses of what he’s capable of so far, with injuries and inconsistency plaguing his first two-and-a-half years in London.

The American joined from Borussia Dortmund in 2019 with much promise, but in each of his first two seasons he failed to make at least 20 starts in the Premier League.

That trend is looking like continuing in the 2021/22 campaign, with the 23-year-old so far restrained to just two starts and four further appearances off the bench in league competition.

Mundo Deportivo have suggested that Barcelona would be interested in prying Pulisic away from Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea could be tempted to cash in on the attacker.

Despite a promising opening campaign that resulted in nine goals and four assists in those limited appearances, the second season was almost exactly half as productive with a return of four goals and two assists.

Such has been his unavailability this season, Pulisic has taken just five shots across the entire campaign so far. To put that into context, Mohamed Salah averages four shots per 90 minutes and the entire top 10 in the Premier League averages over three shots P90, according to FBRef.

While it’s difficult to put his stats into context for the season due to his limited sample size, he ranks well outside the league’s best players in key metrics for someone in his position, including attempted dribbles P90 (49th), key passes P90 (86th) and shots P90 (121st).

Christian Pulisic shines in shot conversion, but struggles elsewhere

One stat that he does shine in though, is goals P90. With two goals in his limited gametime this season, Pulisic has the best goals P90 statistic in the Chelsea squad with 0.76, and only defender Trevoh Chalobah has a better goals per shot ratio than his 0.4.

That could be the thing that saves his Chelsea career. He is a great finisher with either foot, and he has the intelligence and position to find himself in good areas in the box.

The potential is certainly there, but there is no need for having a great goalscoring record if you can hardly get on the pitch in the first place.

With the player reportedly ready to leave and Chelsea boasting plenty of talented attacking options, January could be the perfect opportunity for the Blues to move Pulisic on and fetch a handy fee in the process.