Christian Pulisic may seem like a natural replacement for Eden Hazard at Chelsea following his summer arrival, though Roberto Martinez has insisted that the two are ‘very different’ kinds of players.
Pulisic signed for Chelsea in a £58m deal from Borussia Dortmund in January, spending the remainder of last season on loan at the German side before linking up with his new teammates at Stamford Bridge this summer.
The USA international has been viewed as a direct replacement for Hazard, who left the Blues in the summer to join Spanish giants Real Madrid after seven successful seasons in West London, winning a host of major honours along the way.
Pulisic has endured an underwhelming start to life in English football but showed his ability to replace Hazard with a ‘perfect’ hat-trick in Chelsea’s 4-2 win at Burnley on Saturday, though having worked with Hazard at international level, Belgium boss Martinez has explained the duo are very different players.
21'—left foot
45'—right foot
55'—headerWhat a night for @cpulisic_10 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Lyemyey3iw
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 26, 2019
“They are very different, very different,” Martinez told Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday.
“Eden is a player that stops and assesses where he can execute his moment in a one v one situation.
“I think Christian is dynamic, he always needs to be on the move. He’s someone that needs to receive on the move, so they’re very different in that aspect.
“I think what they bring in the final third is exactly the same, players that think and take control of the moment and then they can find a good assist or a goal.”
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