beIN SPORTS

By Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven)

American soccer can be quick to burden young talent as their next big thing - or their first big thing if talk of the USA one producing a Lionel Messi is to be taken into account. Juan Agudelo, Gedion Zelalem and Julian Green have most recently had to carry the weight of such expectation. Of course, no player had to shoulder that load like Freddy Adu did.

The US has a new prodigy to fawn over now, though. At 17 years old Christian Pulisic is one of the brightest young talents in European soccer, becoming the youngest ever player to score two goals in the Bundesliga with strikers in back-to-back games for Borussia Dortmund. And he’s American.

Born in Pennsylvania, Pulisic applied for Croatian citizenship through his grandfather to allow him to make the move to Germany at the age of just 14, where he has since thrived and blossomed into the prospect he is today. America might have produced him, but it’s in Europe where he has started to fulfil his promise.

But with the US national team competing in the Copa American on home turf this summer, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann must consider whether to call up the teenager. Would the demands of international soccer place too much pressure on Pulisic? Or has he shown for Dortmund already that he can cope with the strain and stress of top tier competition?

Indeed, it is the standard at which Pulisic has broken through that is most impressive about the 17-year-old. Young Americans have made an impression in Europe before, but rarely in one of the continent’s top five leagues. And never before for a club of Borussia Dortmund’s standing.

Of course, Green might raise a point of contention at that suggestion. He too is a promising young talent at a big Bundesliga club - the biggest Bundesliga club - Bayern Munich. But unlike Pulisic, Green has failed to make the break through into the first team at the Allianz Arena, also struggling on loan at Hamburg over the past season or so.

And yet Green has already sampled senior international soccer for the USA, with Klinsmann eagerly courting the 20-year-old in his attempts to ensure his selection of America over Germany. So surely by that measure Pulisic will be pulled into the fold at some point in the near future. The Copa America could be the perfect opportunity to do so.

“For Christian, it has been a very exciting ride over the past couple of months,” Klinsmann said after Pulisic’s recent displays for Borussia Dortmund. “We are just weeks away from the Copa America. He’s making himself a case.”

Pulisic has been named in the USA’s 40-man preliminary squad for the Copa America, but will Klinsmann keep him in his narrowed down squad for the tournament itself? From 40 players he must now whittle that number down to 23 players. Space for largely unproven teenagers, as Pulisic still is, will be at a premium. 

It will disappointing, however, should Pulisic not made the final squad, such has been the impact he has made over the past few weeks and months. He has already featured for the USA’s youth teams and the senior team in a World Cup qualifier, becoming the youngest player to do so. Now he has shown enough to suggest that he’s ready to make the step up to become a key figure for Klinsmann.

American soccer is often accused of expecting too much from its young players too early. Pulisic must be given time to develop and progress. There will be set backs. There will be disappointments, but the 17-year-old perhaps looks best equipped of all that have come before him to deal with it all.