CHRISTIAN PULISIC revealed his start to life at Chelsea was “insane” and was blanked by virtually the entire first team on his first day of training.
But he will always be grateful to Jurgen Klopp for helping to prepare him for life as a professional footballer after being called up to train with the Borussia Dortmund first team aged 16.
Pulisic, 21, signed for Chelsea in a £58million deal in January 2019 but was loaned back to Dortmund for the second half of last season.
He then went on international duty with the USA in the summer before joining up with his new Blues team-mates on the pre-season in Japan.
And it was there that the youngster received a slightly frosty reception – until he proved himself on the training pitch.
Speaking to the 13&ME Podcast, Pulisic said: “It was all pretty crazy what 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 and I had to literally fly by myself and then met the team who had flown from London.
“I had to go straight to the hotel and 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.’
“I 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 couple of days of training I was nervous. You know how it’s like when you move to a new team. They’re nice guys off the field but to earn that respect you have to show on the field you have that ability, that’s just how it is.
“I had to go in on day three when I had a really good training, scored some goals, had some nice plays and assists and then I felt the guys coming and talking to me and getting their respect.
“It’s interesting how it works but they’ve been great guys and I’ve enjoyed it.”
Pulisic made his competitive debut in a 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford on the opening day of the season but grabbed assists against Liverpool and Norwich before the end of August.
The American broke his Blues duck in style with a hat-trick away at Burnley at the end of October.
And if that didn’t convince his team-mates he was the real deal with a big Premier League future ahead of him, he backed it up with strikes against Watford and Crystal Palace in the next two league matches.
It was a moment he had dreamed of 13 years earlier when he visited Stamford Bridge with his family.
But after going back to the States, Pulisic was spotted by Borussia Dortmund and signed with the youth team as a 16-year-old in February 2015.
Only a matter of months later, though, he was getting his first taste of elite-level football after being brought in to mix it with Klopp’s seniors in the German’s final season in charge.
That side included the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan, Ciro Immobile and Shinji Kagawa.
And the American will always remember the moment he found out he would be training with them – and still appreciates the confidence Klopp placed in him from such a young age.
Pulisic added: “I was going to German school and I will never forget that one day I was in class and I looked at my phone and it was a text from my youth coach saying you are training with the first team tonight.
“The rest of the day I wasn’t even paying attention. I couldn’t think of anything else.
“I’m getting ready, going to training and it’s just unreal I was 16 or 17 and I’m going in the warm-up and there’s huge names at the time. There’s Aubameyang, Marco Reus, Matts Hummels, Mkhitaryan. All these guys and they 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 just thankful to Jurgen Klopp that he gave me that opportunity.
“I’ll take that with me forever and I’m really grateful.”
