Pulisic handed lifeline with Chelsea transfer as Pochettino stance made clear

Chelsea news: The Blues' USMNT star is expected to leave the club this summer despite Mauricio Pochettino's admiration of him

Joe Cole has admitted that Christian Pulisic has had his development stunted at Chelsea after a stop-start four years in London. As the 24-year-old enters the final 12 months of his deal at Stamford Bridge it is expected that he will be sold this summer.

Despite that, Cole thinks that there's still plenty to admire about him.

"He's a super talented footballer," the former Blues midfielder told GOAL. "He's won the Champions League with Chelsea and he played a big part by scoring important goals. It's just, I feel sorry for Christian with the amount of injuries he's got. It's really stopped his development.

"I think he needs to find his happiness again in a Chelsea shirt. It's very difficult and there's always competition. There are 31 players playing in the Chelsea squad, world-class players a lot of them. He has to find his rhythm again.

"There's no doubt he's a top, top, top footballer and he just needs to find out and work out how his body is and how he can keep himself on the pitch because, if he can do that, football is not a problem for him. He'll be fine. He's a great player."

There will be interest in him again when the transfer window opens and although Mauricio Pochettino - who football.london still expects to become the new manager of Chelsea - is an admirer of Pulisic, a sale is still the most likely outcome.

"So it's going to have to be done in stages and processes. The next step in the next stage is about just settling down the players, settling on a core of the squad, the players that you're going to rely on to do the job.

"It's going to be a manager of that ilk, and it's going to take time. It's going to take time and that's one thing, unfortunately, coaches don't have so it's going to be tough to get the right man in but I'm sure that the owners are working very hard at finding that right person."

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