A former Dortmund player moves from Chelsea FC to AC Milan and brings the club a whopping loss. Another player with a BVB past is also expected to leave.
At Borussia Dortmund, the memories of Christian Pulisic should be quite positive. The US-American joined the BVB youth team as a youngster, worked his way up through the U17 and U19 teams to the professional ranks, where he became a regular.
He made a total of 127 appearances for Borussia (19 goals, 26 assists) before taking the next step. In 2019, the then 20-year-old came to the attention of Chelsea FC, who paid him a whopping 64 million euros.
His first season on the island was to be his best. In the Premier League, he scored nine goals and made six assists in 25 games. Pulisic also played more or less regularly in the following years, but without taking the next step. From time to time, minor injuries also slowed him down.
Market value loss of 35 million euros
In the last season, the US international (57 games, 23 goals) only scored three points in 1,012 minutes of action across the competition – in the years before it was always over 2,000. His market value fell from 60 million euros at the time of the transfer to the current 25 million euros.
Now the chapter at Stamford Bridge is over for the 24-year-old. Pulisic is making a fresh start and moving to AC Milan. He arrived there on Wednesday for his medical check. According to consistent media reports, he will sign for four years. The transfer fee is “only” 22 million euros – a hefty minus of 42 million euros for the Londoners.
Aubameyang is also expected to switch
And Pulisic will probably not be the only ex-Dortmund player with whom Chelsea FC will burn a lot of money. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – who arrived from Barcelona in 2022 for 12 million euros – is also expected to leave the club after an unsuccessful year. He scored three goals in 21 games across all competitions.
The problem: Aubameyang’s high salary is not affordable for interested European parties. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano now reports that the Blues are trying to sell the Gabonese to Saudi Arabia a year before his contract expires.
In any case, the move from Chelsea to Saudi Arabia would not be new. This summer, the club already sent three players to the Saudi Pro League: N’Golo Kanté (Al-Ittihad, on loan), Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahli, 18.5 million euros) and Kalidou Koulibaly (Al-Hilal, 23 million euros).