Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic has announced he is finally ‘ready to play’ after a long spell out with injury.
The 22-year-old registered nine Premier League goals and six assists in a fine debut campaign for the Blues after making the switch from Borussia Dortmund.
However, a serious hamstring injury in last season’s FA Cup final loss to Arsenal has seen him miss all of Chelsea’s fixtures since then, continuing into the new campaign.
But, speaking on a livestream on his Twitch channel, Pulisic declared he is ready to get back on the pitch, suggesting he could be available for selection to face Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.
‘I’ll say that I’m feeling very good, and very ready to play,’ the winger said. ‘I’m missing it a lot.’
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard insisted before his side’s loss to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday that the American is ‘not far away’ from a return.
The English manager has also previously opened up on the difficulty of managing Pulisic’s fitness and trying not to ‘overcook’ him.
‘There is always a concern about players’ fitness when the history says there has been some injuries and last season we did have it with Christian,’ Lampard said before the Blues’ 3-3 draw with West Bromich Albion last weekend,
‘I was questioned many times on my position on Christian when he did play and didn’t play.
‘We are working on that and Christian is also very open to that. He wants to play, he is so hungry to play and he is very nearly fit now but it is certainly something we will have to manage with him this season because we have all seen the talent and it is something we want to get right.
‘I am not saying it is a fundamental chronic issue, it’s not. But we want to get as many minutes of the really great Christian we saw lots of last season on the pitch.’
