Take this with a grain of salt, no, take this with a mountain made of salt: Stoke City have reportedly offered Borussia Dortmund $22 million for 17-year-old American midfielder Christian Pulisic.
That “reportedly” can be traced back to German tabloid Bild, a newspaper that’s been criticized for a “thirst for sensationalism” and for “stories that are frequently based on the most dubious evidence”.
So this is definitely going down!
Pulisic only debuted for Dortmund in February, going on to make nine Bundesliga appearances while becoming the youngest player ever to score two goals in Germany’s top-flight. The boy’s immense talent resulted in call-ups to the United States national team for both 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying and the Copa America Centenario.
What gives this story some legs is the embarrassment of attacking riches Dortmund have in midfield, including Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Shinji Kagawa, Andre Schurrle, Ousmane Dembele and Emre Mor.
Stoke City, meanwhile, are fond of Americans and they are, indeed, Stoke so maybe he could get some more minutes there. Not that throwing a 17-year-old into the mix at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent under the tutelage of Mark Hughes screams development.
The kid is 17. He doesn’t need to be playing week in, week out. He needs to develop at a phenomenal club with a coach that trusts him and believes in his talent. Do Borussia Dortmund and Thomas Tuchel check both of those boxes? Absolutely.
If he plays slightly more than he did last season, that’s perfect — that's exactly how you go about developing an extremely young talent. He’ll still be miles ahead of what’s expected of him.
Pulisic’s own father, Mark, even said that “Christian has no interest in leaving”. Mark coaches in the academy at Borussia Dortmund and probably communicates with his son regularly.
Who to trust, Bild or Christian’s own father? Hmm.
(H/T: MLS)
Follow me on Twitter: @ConmanFleming
