Liverpool’s pursuit of Borussia Dortmund winger Christian Pulisic is no secret. The Reds already had a bid of €13m rejected from Dortmund but are not willing to throw in the towel just yet. It is now reported that Liverpool are considering stepping up their efforts for the player with a bid of at least €30m needed for Dortmund to even consider selling the young talent.
Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc was unequivocal with his rebuttal though when he spoke about the interest in the player from Anfield and insisted Pulisic will remain at Dortmund. ‘It’s not worth the effort for Liverpool,’ Zorc told German newspaper Bild when asked about Liverpool’s interest in a £30million transfer. However, in a recent development, Italian website Calciomercato has reported that Borussia won’t only be fighting interest from Liverpool for Pulisic in the upcoming transfer window. Both London clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are also keen on the young talent should he become available for the right price.
While it is always nice being a fan to hear your club being linked with a particular player who is as exciting as Pulisic, realistically the American is not the transfer I personally would be too keen on being done in the winter. The wide attacking positions already do have plenty of options.
The likes of Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Lukas Perez and Alexis Sanchez are all capable of playing in the wide areas so there’s no need of getting in another player who is not going to make an immediate impact but is one for the future.
Arsene Wenger, after a long time, has got a squad which has excellent depth and when everybody is fit it would be extremely hard to make final selections for the playing XI.
Of all the positions thus, the wide attacking areas have the maximum options. This season, Wenger has made a major shift in his formation in terms of player roles as he has experimented with Alexis Sanchez as a centre forward. So far the experiment has yielded results with Sanchez scoring 11 league goals already from 14 games.
Shifting Sanchez forward has allowed youngster Alex Iwobi to have a run in the first team. The Nigerian has managed to impress with his development and is already marked as one of the players who can serve the club for a long time, being at par with the quality required.
Dortmund’s Pulisic is one of those young players who is enjoying his own breakthrough season under Thomas Tuchel at the Signal Iduna Park. The American has been greatly helped by the game time he is provided and he needs to be have that if he is to continue with his development.
Moving to Arsenal on most cases provide the chance of development for a young player as there are a few managers in the world better than Arsene Wenger in developing young talent and providing them first team football. However, in the present situation, the Gunners won’t be able to provide that for Pulisic.
Most importantly, Wenger himself is at the crossroads in terms of his career at the Emirates and aims to sign out on a high which calls for quality additions of more experienced players into the squad and Pulisic, while extremely talented, doesn’t fit to that category as well.
