England manager Gareth Southgate believes Christian Pulisic will be disappointed with how his Chelsea career is panning out but is still wary of his threat ahead of the World Cup.
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Pulisic has flattered to deceive at Stamford Bridge after a £58m move from Dortmund in 2019, scoring 26 goals in 131 appearances.
While the American star has tasted Champions League glory at Chelsea and reached four Wembley finals, he has struggled to cement a place in the side, with more than half of his games coming from the bench.
Southgate believes Pulisic has struggled to adapt to the Premier League, while his progress has been harmed by injury problems and the regular change of managers at Chelsea.
But the England boss says Pulisic is still a player his team need to be ‘ready’ for at the Qatar World Cup as they prepare to face USA on November 25.
Southgate told ESPN: ‘I obviously watched him a fair bit at Borussia Dortmund as we had Jadon Sancho there at the time and then moving into Chelsea, I think that adaptation from the Bundesliga to the Premier League isn’t straightforward for a start.
‘The level of the biggest games is similar if you’re playing Bayern Munich or [Red Bull] Leipzig but then when you drop down the league.
‘There’s a big difference between the spending power in the bottom half of the Premier League where they can basically take players from some of the biggest clubs in Europe and the bottom half of most of the other leagues in Europe where that depth isn’t there. I think that takes some adjusting to.
‘Of course, he’s had two or three coaches to deal with so I think there’s been moments where he’s looked like he’s on his way, he’s flowing and he’s got a coach that believes in him and he’s had to deal then with setbacks with injury.
‘He would probably feel he hasn’t got quite to where he wants to get to yet, I’d imagine, but he’s a very good player and is a player when you’re looking at the opposition team sheet, he’s someone you’ve got to be aware of and got to be ready for.’
