Christian Pulisic has already given Ousmane Dembele verdict as Chelsea star reaches crossroads

It was shortly after Chelsea's disappointing defeat to Everton that Mark Pulisic took to Twitter and posted a not-exactly-subtle message regarding the future of his son, Christian. He wrote: "The sad thing is he loves the club, teammates, and London... puts his heart and soul into being a pro. Onwards and upwards my boy... big six months ahead."

Christian had only played the final 22 minutes of the 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park – and had also been named among the substitutes in Chelsea's six previous matches. So the frustration felt by Mark was somewhat understandable, although it was unwise to communicate it via social media.

The tweet was deleted not long after it was posted. Yet the genie was out of the bottle. And it was inevitable that Thomas Tuchel would face questions about the future of Chelsea's American star in the days that followed. Fortunately, the German was ready for them.

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"I am not concerned if a father says that a player does not love me," he said with a smile ahead of the Blues' Premier League meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers last month. "I am not concerned about that. For sure not.

"It is a normal thing [that players are frustrated if they are on the bench]. Like every manager, we have our reasons to choose line-ups and we have our reasons to go for players in the starting XI. And you will never see at this level of competition any happy faces from players who are not selected."

Pulisic did end Chelsea's 2021/22 campaign by starting four of the last five matches, one of which was the FA Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley. Yet the 23-year-old's total of 2,207 minutes was the lowest achieved during