It was a goal that went viral worldwide and helped secure Liverpool’s first Premier League title. And Christian Pulisic’s tally in Chelsea’s midweek win over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge also provided a hint of what Chelsea manager Frank Lampard thinks of the US men national team standout’s ceiling.
His man of the match performance has Lampard mentioning superstar wingers Raheem Sterling, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane when it comes to the 21-year-old’s potential.
“I think he can become a really big player,” Lampard told ProSoccerTalk. “When you look at his age, because he broke through at such a young age in Germany, and he moves to us and people, their expectations rise. We have to take his age into consideration but there’s no doubting the quality. We can see that. He’s very keen to improve and to work, and he’s particularly hungry at the minute because he missed some time with his injury.
“If he wants to learn, and he does, then on the training pitch and how he sees the game and if he looks around him and sees the players around him that have made that sort of a jump. He has the ability of the Raheem Sterling’s who are producing numbers from wide areas, the Mo Salah’s and Mane’s. It’s important he understands the work that needs to be done to do that because he definitely has the talent to do that. He needs to try and get to that level. I’m delighted to have him at the minute. He works hard every day and he has to set his sights as high as he possibly can.”
On Sunday, Pulisic went a strong 72 minutes to help lead Chelsea to a 1-0 win over Leicester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He had two shots well-saved in the first half, and his dribbling caused the Leicester defense constant headaches, even earning the Foxes' Caglar Soyuncu a yellow card after he was brought down while breaking through the center of the pitch.
