Christian Pulisic makes final club decision, as midfielder set for Chelsea return after latest club decision
Christian Pulisic has dismissed rumours he is seeking a move away this summer, insisting he is relishing the opportunity to fight for his place under Thomas Tuchel.
The USA international has started just 11 out of 26 games since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard but has impressed when he has featured.
His lack of regular game time has sparked rumours he is unhappy at Stamford Bridge, which were only intensified when the 22-year-old admitted he was ‘unhappy’ at being left out in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid despite scoring in the first leg.
But Pulisic has rubbished those claims, insisting he is looking forward to the challenge to earn a starting spot over the Blues’ wealth of attacking talent.
‘Yeah, I’m obviously happy here. It has been an incredible two years’, Pulisic told ESPN.
‘People have always doubted and said: “Oh, he’s not playing, does he want to go here, does he want to go there?” I’m always up for a challenge, I love competing, I love the position I’m in and I’m enjoying my time here.’
It promises to be an exciting end to the season for Chelsea, with the West London side facing an FA Cup Final on Saturday before lining up in the Champions League showpiece later this month.
Their preparation for Saturday’s final against Leicester City suffered a blow when they suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat by Arsenal, but the former Borussia Dortmund man thinks the setback will just give his team-mates extra motivation to put it right.
‘Maybe it is something that we need — we are that much hungrier, that much more looking forward to the game tomorrow,’ he added.
‘We know what Leicester is all about. They are going to battle, they are a tough team. They’ve done extremely well in the league this year. We know about their attacking ability and some of the players they have.
‘So we expect them to come and battle. We are going to give it everything, and hopefully if we play the way we do and we match their intensity, I think we can beat them.’
Pulisic’s role in getting Chelsea to the European final cannot be underestimated, after following up his first leg goal with an assist to seal a 3-1 aggregate victory over Real Madrid.
Ross Barkley set for Chelsea return after Dean Smith admission
Chelsea are set to welcome Ross Barkley back to the club in the summer after Aston Villa manager Dean Smith confirmed there would be no permanent move.
The former Everton academy product signed for the Villains late on in the summer window, rounding off what proved to be an excellent transfer period for the Midlands club.
But Smith admitted that there was never any intention for the move to be longer than a season and confirmed the player would return to Stamford Bridge at season’s end.
“He started the season like a house on fire, then with the Covid outbreak after his injury, he’s probably been as inconsistent as we have as a team,” Smith told reporters.
“But his future for the next two years is at Chelsea and we haven’t had any discussions about that and I think it would be wrong to do so, since it was a one-year loan.”
Barkley did start at a rapid pace, scoring on his debut in the 7-2 romp of Liverpool before backing it up with an injury-time cracker to beat Leicester City two weeks later.
After his first five games for the club Barkley had two goals and an assist, but he has since added just one more goal to his total and gone on to make 26 appearances, with only 18 of them starts.
Smith said that after the permanent signings that had been completed earlier in the window, the idea was always to add a quality player temporarily to polish off the squad ahead of the season.