Chelsea have confirmed their first signing of the winter transfer window with Christian Pulisic arriving from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of £58m. The United States international has, however, rejoined the Bundesliga club on a temporary basis for the season before reporting for pre-season duty with the Blues next summer.
Pulisic’s future had been a regular discussion topic over the past few months with Chelsea and Liverpool among those linked with his signature. However, it is the former, who have managed to prise him away from the Bundesliga leaders and Pulisic has revealed his privilege after signing for the west London giants.
“In summer of 2019, I move on to Chelsea and a new competition, the English Premier League. It’s a privilege to have signed for such a legendary club and I look forward to working hard towards being a contributor to their team of world class players. Looking forward to working with Maurizio Sarri and his technical team,” the 20-year-old told the club’s official website.
Chelsea have been hampered with injuries to Pedro and Olivier Giroud over the past few games and based on that, the manager would have preferred having Pulisic on board for the second half of the campaign. However, Dortmund were seemingly reluctant to part ways with the attacker at the midway stage and the proposal of loaning him back has helped the Blues secure the transfer agreement nonetheless.
The Blues are currently just two points ahead of Arsenal for the final Champions League qualification spot but they could extend the gap further with the additional game on hand against Southampton on Wednesday night. The west London side have been largely dependent on Eden Hazard to produce the goods of late but the Belgian may need additional help from others, if the Blues are to eventually finish in the top four this season.
