Frank Lampard gave Christian Pulisic some tough love at the start of the season, as he didn’t put the American straight into the Chelsea team.
Lampard had to make Pulisic work hard and earn his place in the Chelsea team, and now the 21-year-old is looking like the real deal.
Pulisic has been one of Chelsea’s best players since the resumption of the Premier League, and Lampard has now admitted that he has seen notable improvements in his game play as well as his physicality.
“I’ve seen real improvement in his all-round game,” Lampard told the media in his press conference.
“Coming to the Premier League is very difficult because of the physical nature of the league. We have to remember how young Christian is and also the summer that he had.
“I think he found those physical demands pretty strong in the beginning and now you’re seeing him deal with those better. A lot of that is a credit to himself and how he’s approached it – he’s worked with our strength and conditioning coach Adam Burrows, who’s fantastic, but they’ve worked together so it’s Christian who has to take on that responsibility and he has.
“Physically that’s helped him but it’s also just his talent is coming through. Looking forward, I want to see more of what he’s shown in recent times which is goals and assists because that’s what the best in the world do in that position. I feel he has the capability to do that as he improves and that can be the edge as his game moves on levels.”