Under-fire Chelsea head coach Graham Potter has silenced any rumors of Christian Pulisic leaving the team during the current transfer window, while he faces an extended time on the sidelines.
Despite a likely two-month recovery time from his latest knee injury, Pulisic’s future at Chelsea has continued to be a source of speculation, as his playing time and productivity have fluctuated over the last two years.
Current head coach Graham Potter, who was favoring the American in his starting lineups prior to the injury, was clear in the Friday’s press conference that any January departure was completely out of the question.
“No chance, no,” Potter responded to the notion that the American star might move away from Chelsea in January in any capacity.
“He will be out past that and there was never any consideration about him leaving anyway,” he continued, emphasizing, “He is a couple of months out.”
The coach briefly addressed Pulisic’s response to the timeline, indicating that he will be pushing for an earlier return, if physically possible.
“He is disappointed but is optimistic about coming back quicker than two months. He is in that phase where he is keeping his fingers crossed and hoping his rehab goes well.”
The timeline could still see Pulisic feasibly return by mid-March, well in time to have some limited playing time prior to the USMNT’s next competitive games, a pair of CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador.
While Potter’s statement does seem to quiet any possibilities of a departure in the coming weeks, a summer transfer could be a likely scenario, should Chelsea choose to cash in on their asset as he enters the final year of his contract with the team.
