Getty Dortmund's US midfielder Christian Pulisic celebrates scoring the opening goal during the German first division Bundesliga football match Werder Bremen v BVB Borussia Dortmund in Bremen, northern Germany on May 4, 2019.
Christian Pulisic is the highest-paid American soccer player ever. The 20-year-old was signed by Chelsea Football Club this past January for a $73 million (64 million Euros) transfer fee. He is set to join the club in 2020, as he has to finish out his time with Borussia Dortmund of Bundesliga.
In a statement on the Dortmund website, the club’s sporting director called Chelsea’s 5.5-year, $72.52 million deal “an extremely lucrative bid.” Chelsea is in England’s Premier League. Pulisic is currently serving on the United States men’s national team in the Gold Cup.
According to NPR, the previous record for highest transfer fee for an American was set in 2017, when the German club Wolfsburg paid 20 million euros for John Brooks.
Pulisic, in actuality, hasn’t signed an official contract with Chelsea yet. His annual salary with Dortmund is currently $1.14 million.
In addition to his club soccer earnings, Pulisic makes the standard “per game” salary for the USMNT. In an article by GOAL talking about the pay disparity between the men’s and women’s teams, the male players “earn an average of $263,320, or $13,166 per game.”
So far, Pulisic has played in four caps (Ecuador, Chile, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago). He is set to start tonight versus Panama for the final match of Gold Cup Group D action (9 p.m. EST, FS1 and UniMas). He will likely play in at least one more match, as the U.S. has already qualified for the quarterfinals.
Christian Pulisic Seen as the Heir Apparent to Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is a Belgian superstar who has scored 85 goals for Chelsea since 2012. While he’s still relatively young at 28, Pulisic is already seen as the heir apparent to Belgium’s national team captain.
According to AS, Chelsea fans already want Pulisic to don Hazard’s No. 10 jersey.
The 20-year-old player has picked up two assists and a goal for the United States in the tournament, which has been enough to get the ‘Blues’ fans excited to the point of them asking the club to give Pulisic, Hazard’s No. 10 jersey instead of giving it to Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Chelsea reportedly want to offer the iconic No. 10 shirt to Hudson-Odoi to convince him to stay at Stamford Bridge.
With Hazard’s move to Real Madrid, the No.10 shirt is available for either Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi and with the fans wanting it to go to the American star, its all up to Chelsea whether they will offer their Hazard replacement his old jersey.
Pulisic has acquitted himself well in Bundesliga, but he hasn’t produced nearly at the same level as Hazard in his career. In 90 caps for Dortmund, he tallied 13 goals. Meanwhile, he has scored 11 goals in 27 caps for the USMNT.
His most recent performance came against Trinidad and Tobago in a 6-0 rout. He posted two assists and a goal. He also made social media waves for his nutmeg of a Trinidadian defender.
In the words of @stuholden:
FILTH of the highest order from @cpulisic_10 🔥🔥🔥
Pulisic is currently pushing hard for his country to return to the World Cup in 2022 His first step was stomping on Trinidad and Tobago. He admitted to wanting revenge for an embarrassing 2-1 loss that disqualified the team for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“At halftime, we said just keep going and going and eventually the goals started to flow,” Pulisic said to the Fox broadcast after the match. “I didn’t like to say it, but I definitely had a little chip on my shoulder today and I hope you guys could see that.”
For now, his focus is in North America. His attention will turn to Europe in just a few weeks after the Gold Cup concludes.