It seems that as soon as a player finds a decent run of form nowadays that there’s a rush to christen him as ‘the new’ (insert player here), in order to somehow justify their talent.
That fate has now befallen Christian Pulisic who, after coming into his own in the last half-dozen matches, is seemingly eliciting comparisons to former Chelsea player, Eden Hazard.
The Belgian was the darling of Stamford Bridge for years with his performances often elevating those of his team-mates, and even when they were off colour, Hazard had the ability to take the game by the scruff of the neck and win it on his own.
Pulisic has a long, long way to go to achieve the sort of consistency we saw from Hazard, and pundit, Craig Burley, agrees.
“They should take their heads out of the sand,” Burley said on ESPN FC directing his ire at Chelsea fans.
“Eden Hazard carried Chelsea for a long time, and got his move to Real Madrid. He’s a multiple league winner, and a hugely talented Belgian international.
“In the end, he was coveted by arguably the biggest club in the world – Real Madrid.
“It’s typical of the rationale – trying to compare people too early. Christian Pulisic is a huge talent, but he’s a young man.
“There’s no guarantee that come next season with all the new players coming in that he’ll get all the game time he needs.
“All he needs is two or three quiet games, and any manager worth his salt will have Hudson-Odoi in, or he’ll have Werner on the left, or Mason Mount.
“I think we need to go slowly with Christian Pulisic, it’s a learning curve for him, he’s doing great at the moment, but you can’t compare him to a player who literally carried one of the biggest teams in the Premier League for a few seasons.”
If the young American does go on to fulfil his obvious potential, then he may well be thought about in the same reverential tones as his contemporary, but to label him as such already does him no favours.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
