Landon Donovan 'A Little Worried' over Christian Pulisic Prior to Chelsea Switch

Former United States international Landon Donovan has said he is "a little worried" over the recent form of Borussia Dortmund's Christian Pulisic prior to the player's switch to Chelsea in the summer. 

It was confirmed in January the Premier League outfit had signed Pulisic and agreed to loan him back to the Bundesliga side for the remainder of the campaign. However, the United States star has struggled to find his best form this season and is not a regular in the first team.

Speaking to Caught Offside (h/t ESPN), Donovan said he does have some concerns about the situation his compatriot currently finds himself in:

"Candidly, I am a little worried and I think American fans should be a little bit. I understand the situation at Dortmund now; they are not going to play a player who is leaving in six months.

"The beauty of the situation with Christian is that he, by all accounts and from what I have seen, has a really good head on his shoulders, likes to compete and is oozing with talent."

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Donovan added he thinks the two-window transfer ban imposed on Chelsea by FIFA will help Pulisic settle in at the club in the summer. "He is now either 20 or approaching 20 and needs to be playing games so that could be concerning," he said.

Although Chelsea paid a reported £58 million to sign Pulisic, so far this season he's shown little to suggest he's worth that kind of outlay. In 2018-19, he's started just five Bundesliga games and in his 13 appearances has managed to register just one goal and two assists.

While the lack of possible acquisitions coming in for Chelsea in the summer may mean a clearer path to the first team for Pulisic, football writer Lars Pollman noted the situation is unlikely to be ideal for the Blues:

Mark Ogden of ESPN noted recently Chelsea haven't recruited well before the ban:

There have been some signs of recovery for Chelsea lately following a wretched start to 2019, with positive performances in the Carabao Cup loss to Manchester City and Wednesday's win over Tottenham Hotspur.

If he does hit the ground running in England, Pulisic has the ability to add another dimension to the way in which Chelsea attack. Although this campaign may not have been his best one, the USMNT star has so much natural talent for the Blues to tap into.

Even this term, when he's been on the field defenders have found Pulisic tough to totally contain:

With Dortmund pushing for the Bundesliga title—they have a three-point lead over Bayern Munich ahead of their showdown with Augsburg on Friday—Pulisic will be desperate to make an impression before moving on.

If he continues to be on the periphery until the season's end, then patience may be needed when assessing his start at Chelsea. Either way, Pulisic has shown more than enough in his short career to point towards him being a success with the Blues in the long term.