With so many U.S. men’s national team stars at big clubs in Europe, the perception that there is a bias against Americans seems to have changed in recent years.
But for Tim Howard, the anti-American sentiment in Europe is truly alive and well.
Appearing on the Offside With Taylor Twellman podcast, the longtime USMNT and Everton goalkeeper used Christian Pulisic as an example of the lingering bias against American players in the upper echelons of the game.
Pulisic struggled for playing time at various points during his Chelsea career, particularly last season when he set a career low in minutes. The USMNT star left Stamford Bridge in the offseason and joined AC Milan, where he is thriving early in his career with the Rossoneri.
According to Howard, who spent more than a decade in the Premier League, Pulisic’s struggles for minutes at Chelsea are an example that there is still a bias against American players.
“If you’re an American and you’re playing in the Premier League, you better be good every day,” Howard said. “Not for a year, not for a game. Because for as much as some people on the couch want to say, ‘Oh, the landscape has changed for Americans’ — it has not.
“I think Christian Pulisic did a brilliant job when he was called upon in that Chelsea team. If he was Dutch or Italian or anything else, he’d still be in the team. He wouldn’t be the first one pulled off the pitch. He wouldn’t be a substitute. He’s that good, and he’s showing that in Milan now. And so as an American, it’s tough. You’ve got to prove it every day.”
Howard’s comments came a week after USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner suggested there is a bias in the Premier League, not against Americans specifically but against any non-English player.
Explaining why he felt the need to leave Arsenal and join Nottingham Forest, Turner said: “I knew that if I waited another year, it would probably have been more challenging for me to make a lateral move within the Premier League. So I knew that time was of the essence at that point.
“If I went another season without playing, I would have probably had to take a step back and once you’re out of it, it’s hard to get back into it, especially when you’re not English.”
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