Chelsea block all Christian Pulisic offers due to need for more than just 11 players — report

Christian Pulisic wasn’t really set to leave — no rumors had advanced beyond speculation — but is now definitely set to stay. According to the Athletic, Chelsea have blocked all (loan) offers that have come in for the 23-year-old USMNT international this summer, and will do so in the final few days left of the transfer window as well.

The report claims that Pulisic is “is understood to be disappointed” by these decisions, “especially in light of” Callum Hudson-Odoi’s loan to Bayer Leverkusen, but perhaps Todd Boehly sat him down and explained freedomly, American-to-American, that we do in fact need more than just 11 players for the season in the squad (“roster”), and with an even more congested fixture list (“schedule”) than usual, there will be plenty of minutes to go around. Tommy Tactics may have chimed in by pointing out that Pulisic has been the first attacking substitution off the bench in all four matches (“games”) so far, and bit of rotation (“load management”) is surely due with twice weekly games coming up from now until the World Cup (“that soccer thing on TV”).

Pulisic obviously has not shied away from saying, when asked, that he wants to play (well, start) more often, but he also has said many times that he’s willing to fight for his place, which is precisely what should be expected of everyone. Whether he feels that Tuchel’s handing out minutes fairly is of course another question, but perhaps he’ll be able to convince the manager soon. It’s not like our current first-choice attacking trio are racking up the goals at the moment...