Mauricio Pochettino to get transfer wish as European clubs ‘will make offers’

Chelsea have been told that top European clubs “will make offers” for USA international Christian Pulisic this summer as Mauricio Pochettino looks to trim his squad after taking charge at Stamford Bridge. Pulisic joined the Blues from Borussia Dortmund in 2019 but has struggled to hold down a regular starting place in the team.

Chelsea were taken over by American Todd Boehly a year ago and have since spent prodigious amounts of cash to bring in a myriad of players. With so many stars vying for finite starting places, the likes of Pulisic have suffered. And the 24-year-old only started eight Premier League matches throughout the 2022/23 campaign.

According to The Mirror, Pulisic is set to head through the Stamford Bridge exit this summer. And former USA and Leicester goalkeeper Kasey Keller believes clubs will be queuing to snap him up.

“The question will be, who is interested? I think there’s quite a few,” the 53-year-old told The Mirror. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in Italy or just some place to kind of reset. Whatever the reason was, there were times when obviously he had a good run and you thought, ‘okay he’s turned the corner.’

“Then it’s either an injury or whatever and he has to start back up. Then there’s also been multiple managerial changes. I think either go back to Germany or go to Italy – start over. I was with him in the national team as a staff member when he came through. The quality is obvious – he’s a very, very good player. He just need to find the right situation.”

A number of current Premier League superstars, including the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, failed to make the grade at Stamford Bridge before going on to succeed in the game following moves abroad. And Keller thinks Pulisic can do the same.

“There’s been some big names before,” he added. “Look at what De Bruyne did – he went to Wolfsburg. It’s not as if they were a world powerhouse.”

Pulisic has bagged 26 goals and 21 assists in 145 appearances since joining Chelsea and came on as a substitute when his team landed the Champions League trophy after seeing off Manchester City in the 2021 final.

But Pochettino has inherited a bloated squad following the club’s aggressive recruitment drive. And the Argentine will be under pressure to offload a string of stars to ensure the Blues don’t fall foul of financial fair play rules.