Pulisic to Chelsea is the breakthrough of American Soccer

America has, throughout its history, been seen as a sleeping giant of football.  A country deeply entrenched in a love of sport that routinely produce some of the world’s greatest athletes, yet has never broken through with a great soccer player.

With the 64 million Euro (approximately 73 million dollars) transfer fee paid by Chelsea Football Club for Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic, America hopes to have broken that barrier as well.

America has produced its share of soccer exports to the Premier League before, mostly in the form of defenders or goalkeepers such as Brad Friedel, Claudio Reyna, Tim Howard and Brad Guzan, amongst others.  These were solid if not wholly spectacular contributors to their respective sides.

America has also contributed its share of attacking players in the form of Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and to a much lesser extent, Jozy Altidore.
However, with Pulisic, and his transfer to the Premier League, it marks a monumental shift; an American phenom valued on par with his European counterparts.

Pulisic will have a great deal of work ahead of him to live up to the hype that the transfer fee that Chelsea just paid Dortmund.  To put the 64 million Euros Chelsea just paid into context, the only players that are aged 20 years or younger who have garnered a higher fee are PSG’s Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele, widely considered two of the most talented young players in the world.  Pulisic’s transfer blasts by the current record for an American player, besting the 20 million Euros paid for Wolfsburg’s John Brooks.

The transfer fee paid will at once be a burden but also a blessing for the American forward and American soccer as a whole. The pressure of a transfer fee of that magnitude, at a club where there is oftentimes little patience for development, will be monumental.

Pulisic, however, has shown that while he is keenly skilled, he has the work ethic to do what is necessary to earn every dime of the fee that was paid for him. There will never be a fear of complacency from the former Dortmund player. With rumors swirling of Eden Hazard and Real Madrid having mutual interest in each other and both Pedro and Willian being on the wrong side of 30 years old, Pulisic will hopefully have the opportunity to show why he is worth the money.

The Pulisic transfer fee also shows the reward for American youth to push themselves to ply their trade in Europe. The American youth soccer system is expansive yet it still does not provide the competition or coaching that Europe can give to a young American talent.

Pulisic began his journey in Europe at the ripe age of 16 with Dortmund and emerged himself into football at one of the great footballing academies in the world.  The size of this transfer fee shows that they sacrifice that Pulisic has made was valuable and worthwhile.

It is imperative for US Soccer that more continue to follow in the footsteps of Pulisic in pushing themselves to be better in Europe, rather than the comfort of being home in  America. Pulisic seems to be the head of the spear of American youth pushing themselves in Europe, as evidence by the emergence of players like Weston McKinnie playing for the Champions League side Schalke or Cameron Carter-Vickers at Tottenham.

One of the more lasting consequences of the Pulisic transfer revolves around compensation for youth clubs when these major transfer deals occur.  Current FIFA regulations entail that when a player is sold overseas, up to five percent of the transfer fee goes to youth clubs involved in the training of that player.

Unfortunately, US Soccer does not participate in the FIFA solidarity payment system that rewards youth teams. US Soccer’s recusal from this system has been challenged by the youth club of Newcastle fullback DeAndre Yedlin’s youth team, Crossfire.

No decision by FIFA has been made on this issue but if FIFA were to decide in favor of the youth club, this will have major ramifications for both Pulisic’s youth team (PA Classics who would be owed over $500,000) and US Soccer as a whole. If Pulisic’s transfer is the beginning of a trend, rather than a one time occurrence, this will change how U.S youth soccer functions.

Not only will soccer become a profit making endeavor for these clubs but the increase in revenue, may hopefully allow many of these pay for play clubs to bring in more disadvantage youth who couldn’t afford the cost of playing for these elite youth teams.

The lasting impact of Pulisic’s transfer to Chelsea will be one man’s burden to bear: Christian Pulisic.  If he succeeds, he could be the ambassador to the world that US soccer has legitimacy. If he fails, he’ll further legitimize the belief that America’s soccer future is still years away.

Either way, the Pulisic transfer represents one small step for the footballing world but one giant leap for United States Soccer.