Chelsea winger, Christian Pulisic has revealed the odd details of his first meeting with the Blues teammates as he delivered a message to Klopp.
Pulisic arrived in Stamford Bridge in the summer after previously signing on the dotted line for a fee of around £58m. Despite the brief glimpses of the talents that secured him a headline-grabbing move to Dortmund, the teenager endured subbed debut season in the Premier League.
Things haven’t gone into plan while on the pitch for the 21-year-old American. He has revealed how things got off to somewhat of a rocky beginning during the pre-season.
Speaking to Jermaine Jones on the 13&Me podcast, Pulisic told his initial nervousness at the club after a cold welcome from his teammates.
The experience
“It was pretty crazy happened. I had to fly straight from my summer break right after the Gold Cup. I had one week off and I didn’t really get a summer.”
“The team had already started pre-season in Japan so I flew straight there by myself.”
“I had to go straight to the hotel. The next thing on the schedule was to go straight to training. I was tired, nervous and didn’t know what to think but I’m at Chelsea and this is insane.”
“Got on the bus, they had just arrived as well. Everyone is half-asleep, I go and sit on the bus and nobody even noticed me. Nobody said anything.”
“There were maybe one or two guys who said ‘hey hello’ and I was like ‘what’s going on here?
“Those first couples of days of training I was nervous. You know how it’s like when you move to a new team. They are nice guys of the filed but earn that respect you have to show on the field you have the ability. That’s just how it is.”
“I had to go in on day three when I had really good training, scored some goals, had some nice plays and assists and then I felt guys coming and talking to me.”
“It’s interesting how it works but they’ve been great guys and I’ve enjoyed it.”
Generous message to Klopp
Pulisic’s breakthrough on the European football scene came at Dortmund while the club was under Klopp. Revealing his thanks for the opportunity afforded to him by Klopp, the Chelsea Winger recounted the story of the first time he trained with the club’s star-studded first-team.
“I was 16 or 17 and I’m going to the warm-up and there are huge names at the time. There is Pierre Aubameyang, Marco Reus, Matts Hummels, Mkhitaryan. All these guys and there were just in the Champions League final the year before.”
“It’s like I’m going in and I’m just this 16-year-old kid. I was thinking just do my best, I was just so excited and I’m thankful to Jurgen Klopp that he gave me that opportunity.”
“I’ll take that with me forever and I’m really grateful.”