Blow for Liverpool? The winners & losers if Chelsea actually signed £70m-rated target

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Borussia Dortmund winger Christian Pulisic has continuously been linked with a move to the Premier League and, according to reports, Chelsea have officially made an approach for the American.

The 20-year-old has 18 months remaining on his present deal with Dortmund but is yet to sign a new deal with reports suggesting he is looking to leave the club.

As a result, Pulisic has been the subject of rumours linking him with a move to the Premier League with Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United among those reportedly interested.

This has been fuelled by the player himself, with Pulisic recently commenting on his dreams of playing in England.

“England, the Premier League, is a league where lots of kids dream of playing so there is no reason why maybe one day I won’t play here.”

 

Dortmund are not going to make it easy for any club to sign Pulisic, rating the 20-year-old at £70m, hoping to ward off potential interest.

And, despite Pulisic having previously worked with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, the Evening Standard are reporting Chelsea have made their first official approach for the American.

However, Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has remained coy on the subject, telling reporters: “Pulisic is a Borussia Dortmund player, and I don’t want to talk about a player of another club. It’s not professional, I think.”

So, should Chelsea ultimately achieve their goal in January and secure the services of Pulisic, who would stand to be the major winners and losers of the deal? Read on to find out.

Winner: Maurizio Sarri

Chelsea have a bad history of rotating their managers far too often, with Maurizio Sarri the 13th to take charge of the club since Roman Abramovich became owner in 2003.

At the start of Abramovich’s reign, the Russian oligarch was more than happy to flash the cash in order to build a successful side, bringing in the likes of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Petr Cech and Andriy Shevchenko among many others during Jose Mourinho’s first spell in charge.

But as the years have gone on, and Financial Fair Play regulations have kicked in, Abramovich has been slightly more restricted in his spending opting to free up the funds by selling players before buying big.

However, the Russian seems to have some faith in Sarri this season already, spending £122m on two players in the summer with Kepa Arrizabalaga and Jorginho arriving from Athletic Bilbao and Napoli respectively.

Should Chelsea fork out another £70m in January on Pulisic, Abramovich will continue to show his intent in backing the Italian who has brought positive football to the club.

The Blues are currently third in the Premier League after 14 games and have reached the knockout stages of the Europa League, qualifying with two games to spare in their group.

But ‘Sarrismo’ is yet to fully transform Chelsea this season, with cracks still showing in the Blues’ system including a lack of squad depth with Willian having his first rest of the season in Sunday’s win over Fulham.

Pulisic’s potential arrival may not be the instant solve, but it will go some way in proving Abramovich does believe in Sarri’s long-term project.

Loser: Callum Hudson-Odoi

Chelsea’s increased depth in attacking areas may be a positive for Sarri, but it will prove another potential roadblock in the development of Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Hudson-Odoi may be favoured on the left side of Chelsea’s front three, given his attacking intent and keen dribbling abilities, but the 18-year-old is also more than capable of functioning on the right.

Sarri has already made it clear Hudson-Odoi is not ready to play in the Premier League yet, with the teenager still needing to work on defensive aspects of his game.

Speaking after the 18-year-old scored his first senior goal in Chelsea’s 4-0 Europa League win over PAOK, Sarri said: “I don’t know if Hudson-Odoi is able for the Premier League at 18, especially in a big team,” he said, as reported by Sky Sports.

“If he’s good enough to play in a big team in the Premier League at 18 then he could be the best player in Europe in two years.

“I think he played very well but the type of match was for his characteristics as they had 10 men after seven minutes. We only needed to play in the offensive phase. He’s very able to do this, but I want to see him in a match when he has to play in a defensive phase.”

One day the teenager will be ready to make the step up, but should Chelsea have another big-money signing to accommodate in Pulisic – who is only 20 years old himself – Hudson-Odoi could find himself missing out once more.

And ultimately it would be Chelsea’s loss, with the Englishman then likely to look elsewhere for his football with teams abroad already expressing interest.

Winner: Jadon Sancho

One young English player to have shown the benefits of moving out of his comfort zone for the better of his development is Jadon Sancho.

Sancho, 18, is making waves in Germany with Borussia Dortmund and has already been capped three times for the senior England team.

At the start of the current season, Sancho made a massive impact from the bench, recording five assists in the Bundesliga before being given his first start.

Like Hudson-Odoi, Sancho is primarily a left-winger but has been finally given a starting spot on the right at Dortmund – replacing Pulisic who has been struggling with some injury problems.

Should Pulisic leave Dortmund in the January transfer window, Sancho will also be guaranteed the starting role for the club, whether it be on the left or right.

And Sancho’s gain will also be England’s with the 18-year-old gaining more valuable game-time and development which will be invaluable to the Three Lions for the future.

Loser: Jurgen Klopp

One of the other teams with big links to Pulisic is Liverpool, managed by former Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp.

The German led Dortmund to five trophies in seven years and would have overseen Pulisic’s move to the Black Yellows as a 16-year-old in 2015.

Klopp has previously spoken highly of the 20-year-old, telling reporters in the summer: “He has a contract at Dortmund, no? That’s the first problem.

“I like Christian, I’ve known him since he was a kid. He’s still not really old, he’s a fantastic player, and it’s deserved people think highly of him in America.

“In Germany it’s the same. If he wants to play in England or whatever one day then for sure he has the chance to do so but he’s at a really good club for his development at this moment.

“It’s really good to be at a club where they know him already.

“He had not his best season last year but he was still a decisive player. But it’s important in that age group that there’s no rush.

“He still has 14 or 15 years to play in his career and that’s good and he wants to be the best Pulisic he can be. For this, there is still space for development.”

Klopp does have the terrifying attacking quartet of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri which he rarely changes but Pulisic would be a very good option for rotation.

Winner: Thorgan Hazard

Dortmund may have the option of Sancho to rely on as a replacement for Pulisic, but the club could also look to the market for a new signing.

One man reportedly high on their list is Thorgan Hazard who currently plies his trade in the Bundesliga with Borussia Monchengladbach.

Hazard signed for Monchengladbach from Chelsea in 2015 having never made an appearance for the Blues first team, but that did not stop them adding a clause to his sale.

According to the Standard, Chelsea have an option which will allow them to match any bid a club make to Monchengladbach for Hazard.

This means the Blues could almost guarantee Dortmund sign Hazard if the deal is good enough for Monchengladbach, by refusing to take up their option to match and giving the Belgian a free move to the current Bundesliga leaders.

And it would be a move Hazard deserves having improved vastly at Monchengladbach, already scoring eight goals and recording five assists so far this season – bettering his brother’s league contribution by one goal.

Loser: Victor Moses

Roll back just one year and Victor Moses was invaluable to Chelsea, having been reverted to a wing-back by Antonio Conte.

But under Sarri, the Nigerian has played just 26 minutes in the Premier League this season and has made the matchday squad on just four occasions.

The Italian has also all-but confirmed Moses does not fit into his plans for the season, admitting the winger is not tactically up to the demands of Sarrismo.

Speaking in November, Sarri said: “I think the situation is that Drinkwater for me is not suitable for a midfield with two other midfielders. I told him two months ago what I think,” Sarri said, as reported by Goal.

“Moses is more suitable for playing wing back than like a winger or a full-back, I think. I don’t know [if they have a future]. They have to improve but their characteristics are a little bit different.”

If Moses harboured any hopes of improving to fight his way back into the Chelsea reckoning as a winger, the potential signing of Pulisic would all-but end the Nigerian’s Blues career.

The post Winners and losers if Chelsea sign £70m-rated Christian Pulisic appeared first on Squawka News.



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