)
In reality, there was only ever going to be one winner of the inaugural Kopa Trophy in 2018, awarded to the best performing player under the age of 21.
After becoming the most expensive teenager in the game’s history, joining PSG for an eye-watering €180m, Kylian Mbappe had posted heavy numbers in Ligue 1 before taking that summer’s World Cup by storm.
He was several achievements in to manifesting as the all-conquering megastar he is today.
Yet the runner-up that year was also worthy of note, a young player whose stylish creativity on the wing for Borussia Dortmund represented something substantial and significant, greater even than his individual pursuit of excellence.
For on his slender shoulders, that rose and dipped to unseat one full-back after another, Christian Pulisic carried the hopes of an expectant nation, hungry to produce ‘the one’.
A Sporting Curio: Soccer Struggles for Coverage
By the tail-end of the 20th century and beyond, women’s football was well established in the US but it took the men’s version a good while to catch up.
Hosting the 1994 World Cup was intended to popularise the sport across the Atlantic, and for a short period perhaps this was the case even if, in hindsight, the American public were more curious about the beautiful game, than emotionally invested.
Soon after came the forming of the MLS, a venture that has subsequently proven highly successful in providing a foundation for soccer to grow. In 2026, it has overtaken baseball as the third most popular sport in the land of the free.
Go back a generation however and a familiar story played out. At grassroots level soccer thrived, a fun pastime for children and a niche way to spend a Saturday at the park for adults. Open up any newspaper though, or trawl the TV channels, and you were as likely to see coverage of squash or tiddlywinks as you would a match report.
Data box – To date, Pulisic has accrued 53 goal involvements in 82 appearances for the US MNT. Despite being a creator first and foremost, only four players have scored more for the national side.
By common consensus what was desperately needed was a poster boy, an inspirational superstar no less, and though the likes of Alexi Lalas, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey more than played their part in transforming the image of American soccer for the better, each fell a little short in this regard.
As good as they were, they lacked that quintessential element the American sporting public love. They lacked pizzazz.
A Nation Expects: US Invests Hope in Emerging Greatness
Only then he emerged, this young kid out of Hershey, Pennsylvania who was full of it, dancing around opponents at will and always seeking an early, adventurous pass.
As a young boy Christian Pulisic had stood out at a local US Soccer Development Academy, to such an extent that his parents accompanied him on an educational tour of the UK, taking in games and playing for youth sides. At almost every step of the way Pulisic was the youngest and smallest player on the pitch but that didn’t matter. “I couldn’t use my physical skills,” he recalled much later. “I would just have to beat them with my mind.”
The winger was only 15 years old when he returned to Europe, to successfully navigate a trial at Dortmund before joining their youth ranks, and already people were talking about him.
So the rumour went, America had finally found a world-beater.
Germany Calls: Breaking Down Cultural Barriers
It took the player no time at all to start justifying the hype, scoring for Die Schwarzgelben after just a handful of appearances off the bench. By doing so he became the youngest non-German to convert in the Bundesliga.
Around this juncture too, he made his international bow with the US MNT, soon after breaking another record. A clinical finish against Bolivia on his third outing made him the youngest ever player to score for the US.
Couple all this with a series of impressive displays in the Champions League and two pertinent truths were swiftly becoming apparent when assessing a talent still to turn 18. Firstly, that Pulisic was something of a wunderkind. And, more meaningfully, that a re-evaluation was clearly needed in how America was perceived on the global footballing stage.
Through their system they had produced a real gem.
Data box – Pulisic successfully adapted to the Bundesliga via high-intensity training and learning tactical discipline under Thomas Tuchel. The former ensured quick decision-making, a vital component of his game when coming up against more physically developed European players. The latter made him a versatile asset for Dortmund, as impactful on the wings as he was central.
Notwithstanding that relevant detail, what also made his meteoric rise so important in the bigger scheme of things was acknowledging the immense pride that emanated from back home.
In 2018 – the year that Pulisic was recognised by Ballon d’Or and just prior to him securing a £58m move to Chelsea – 31 million Americans would regularly tune in to watch European soccer. Six years later that figure shot up to 50 million.
Unquestionably the midfielder played a big role in this, as he ascended to the level of household name, gaining the nickname ‘Captain America’ into the bargain.
Only then, just as his career trajectory seemed to be soaring evermore, the player’s momentum stalled.
His big move to London saw him consigned to the periphery, no longer the star turn, and worse yet a succession of injuries caused Captain America’s superpowers to wane.
Pulisic was still young, vital and supposedly not yet at his peak but the perception now was that he was failing to fulfil a destiny that once shone bright.
The ‘LeBron James of Soccer’: A Temporary Fall from Grace
All told, the elegant playmaker missed 28 Premier League games for Chelsea to knee and hamstring problems while four different coaches deployed him in a multitude of positions at a club not in the rudest of health.
Naturally, there were high points too, namely helping the Blues win a Champions League in his second campaign in the capital, but by and large the player’s magic was subdued. In his final season, 74% of his appearances came from the bench.
It was around this period when an American TV show named Pawn Stars aired, featuring people trying to sell used goods. On this particular episode, a seller was trying to convince someone unfamiliar to football of a high value placed on a signed Pulisic jersey.
“He’s the LeBron James of soccer,” the man said earnestly, referencing the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
The clip became a meme online, the cruellest fringes of the internet finding the comparison humorous and duly running with it.
A Destiny Fulfilled: Scaling the Highest Heights Again
It was amidst this climate that Pulisic joined AC Milan in the summer of 2023, for a knockdown fee of €22m. He had already proven his worth once. Now he was charged with doing so again.
Football writer and Serie A specialist, Emmet Gates, insists he has been successful in that goal.
“The American has been one of the standout signings over the three seasons, with his pace and nose for goal proving difficult to contain.
Forty-two goals from 126 games in all competitions is a healthy return. Moreover, Pulisic has been a massive money-earner for the Rossoneri off the pitch. In the 24 hours after his arrival, Milan’s online sales skyrocketed by 388%, with the States accounting for 42% of Milan’s total shirt sales.
But Pulisic wasn’t just signed for commercial reasons, he’s proved on the pitch he’s one of the best in the league, despite being surrounded with less than stellar talent.”
Eight years ago, Christian Pulisic broke the mould, in achieving something that would have been unimaginable a generation before. He was an American firmly in the Ballon d’Or reckoning.
Should he remain fit on the peninsula, and continue to shine, we should not rule out the possibility of that notable feat occurring again.
