Tottenham considering bid for Christian Pulisic as Plan B if they can’t sign Sessegnon

When Fulham defeated Aston Villa 1-0 in the English Championship playoff final and promoted to the Premier League this Saturday, that made the idea of signing Ryan Sessegnon a lot more difficult. Heading into the playoffs, the rumors were all saying that if Fulham promoted that they would probably hold on to their star talent and let him shine in the Cottagers’ first season back in the top flight, holding off all clubs who were interested in purchasing him. Sess belongs in the Premier League, after all, but he sure does seem to love Fulham.

With that said, there’s now a new rumor circulating. According to Matt Law in the Telegraph, Tottenham are now looking to another player as a Plan B if Fulham isn’t willing to play ball.

That player? Nineteen-year old American attacking midfielder Christian Pulisic.

We are an American Tottenham Hotspur football blog. Consequently, we tend to like it when our beloved club signs Americans. We liked it when Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel were between the sticks, we REALLY liked it when Spurs signed Clint Dempsey, and we wished that the club had given a bigger chance to DeAndre Yedlin. The idea of Spurs signing the best American football player currently alive (shambles as the USA national team might be) actually gives me the vapors a little bit.

Pulisic is crazy talented and super young -- he’s just 19 and is already an established starter for Dortmund the past couple of seasons. He can play anywhere across the forward attacking band, which makes him extremely useful and tactically flexible, something we know Pochettino likes. He’s also (sob sob) not in the World Cup this summer so it should theoretically be easier to work out a deal for him than if he were heading to Russia.

However, Pulisic is also coming off of a season where he underperformed compared to 2016-17. Dortmund didn’t have the best of years either, but Pulisic’s stats were not as great this season as last — .42 xG+xA (2314’) vs. .52 xG+xA (1511’). He managed five goals and seven assists in all competitions this season. Regardless, he’s a monster talent and would fit in extremely well in Tottenham’s young, exciting, and upwardly mobile squad. You’d like to think that he’s the kind of young player that Mauricio Pochettino could mold into something really special.

Not to mention the inclusion of the best known American soccer player would be an absolute boon to Tottenham’s profile in the States, which despite not making the World Cup is still a huge emerging market. And can you imagine Pulisic on this summer’s Tottenham tour to America? Think he might attract a whole lot of attention and single handedly create a bunch more American Spurs fans? Yes, yes he would.

In short, yes, Tottenham, I would very much like it if you did this.

The Telegraph suggests that he is rated at about £50m, and that feels about right. What’s crazy is that after spending £42m on Davinson Sanchez last summer, and considering the rumors surrounding the amount of money Spurs have to invest in their squad this offseason, the idea of Tottenham dropping £50m on a single player no longer feels like something that is laughably out of reach.

Liverpool and Chelsea are also tracking Pulisic, and the Chelsea connection is especially scary considering Dortmund would probably like to sign Michy Batshuayi on a permanent basis.

It sounds like Sessegnon is still Spurs’ first choice, and I can certainly see why that would be the case — Sess is younger, potentially has the higher upside, and is English, which would help with the “association trained” rule for Champions League rosters. There’s no question that Pulisic would still tick all of the boxes that Sess does, and he might actually be easier to obtain, if Pulisic is willing to move to north London.

I’m on the Pulisic Hotspur train, CHOO CHOO.