Why Liverpool Ultimately Backed Out of Transfer Race for Christian Pulisic
After what seemed like decades of speculation, Christian Pulisic has finally completed a deal to become a Premier League player, with the 20-year-old agreeing to a $73m move to Chelsea on Wednesday.
Borussia Dortmund announced that the youngster - who was the runner-up for the 2018 Kopa Trophy award - has sealed a move to Chelsea but will stay in Germany the remainder of the season.
Prior to the completion of his deal with the Blues, Pulisic had also been seen as a long-term target for Liverpool, with many suggesting that Jurgen Klopp's connection to his former club Dortmund made the Reds frontrunners for the highly rated star.
However, according to Bleacher Report, Liverpool and Klopp cooled their pursuit of the American in recent times, ultimately feeling that he would command too high a transfer fee for a player who might not be able to break into his current starting lineup. With Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino all under long-term deals, there's little room in the attack for a player of that cost.
This line of thinking is also used by a similar report in the Liverpool Echo, which also adds that the success of summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri has negated the need for more attacking additions at Anfield.
At one stage, Liverpool looked to be favorites to sign the young American, with Klopp quoted by Sky Sports as saying: "I like Christian, I've known him since he was a kid. He's still not really old, he's a fantastic player, and it's deserved people think highly of him in America."
Speaking about the move, Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc revealed: "It was always Christian's dream to play in the Premier League."
That dream will come true–just at Chelsea, and not Liverpool.
