Christian Pulisic’s father has defended his son’s time at Chelsea, saying that it’s a “misconception” he disappointed with the Premier League giants.
Pulisic struggled to find consistent playing time during his spell in London, setting a career low in minutes last season before moving to AC Milan in the summer.
But the U.S. national team star also experienced his share of highs during his four years with Chelsea, as he scored 26 total goals and helped the Blues win the 2020-21 Champions League.
According to Mark Pulisic, his son didn’t disappoint at Chelsea as much as he simply wasn’t given a consistent chance to impress.
“For me it’s not true that Christian disappointed at Chelsea. He simply didn’t play regularly,” Mark said on his podcast, as recorded by Gazzetta dello Sport.
“For me he is now reaching his peak, he is 25 years old, he works hard to develop his game and is respected by his teammates.”
Pulisic has thrived in his first season in Milan, receiving the consistent minutes he never could while at Chelsea. The USMNT star has already set a career high in goals with 12 while starting almost every week.
Pulisic’s father credited Milan coach Stefano Pioli for giving his son the latitude to make mistakes, as well as some former Chelsea teammates for helping him adjust to the Rossoneri.
“Christian has had everyone’s trust,” he said. “Pioli trusts him, he always lets him play and doesn’t immediately replace him if things go wrong. Then he likes Milan and he always speaks well of his teammates. Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud helped him a lot when it came to choosing Milan.”
Though Pulisic is thriving in Milan, his father stopped short of saying that he could stay for the rest of his career. The forward’s time at Chelsea taught him that nothing in the game is permanent.
“Football changes quickly and we have understood for some time that this is a business. You can only think in the short term,” Mark said.
Still, Pulisic’s father insisted his son has no desire to go anywhere else in the near future.
“Let’s be clear: Christian loves Milan and wants to stay. He lives in Busto Arsizio to be close to Milanello (Milan’s training center). He’s learning to speak Italian and he gets on very well with teammates like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah.”
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