Pulisic missed the start of the season after suffering a hamstring problem in Chelsea’s FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal and returned at the start of last month, featuring against Crystal Palace, Southampton, Sevilla, Manchester United and Krasnodar. Another setback followed as Pulisic again went down with a hamstring injury in warm-up prior to Chelsea’s victory at Burnley and the 22-year-old missed the side’s two most recent games leading into the international break.
However, the former Borussia Dortmund star was included in Berhalter’s 24-man squad for USA’s upcoming friendly matches with Wales and Panama. ADVERTISEMENT Top articles by Metro Trent Alexander‑Arnold to miss six Liverpool games with calf injury
Asked about the question marks surrounding Pulisic’s fitness in seemingly every international break, Berhalter told ESPN: ‘I don’t see it like that. ‘I really see it as a young player who is just adapting to the demands of a different game, a different schedule. ‘When you get injured, when you have a muscle injury, it takes you a while to get fully fit and recover and this is part of his recovery process. ‘I have no doubt that he’s going to be a player that is fit for a very long period of time when he gets through this period.’
Frank Lampard will be hoping Pulisic avoids any fresh injury concerns, with games coming thick and fast for Chelsea both domestically and in Europe. After the international break, the Blues travel to Newcastle before facing Rennes for a second time in the Champions League.
