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Chelsea star Christian Pulisic says he will be “forever” grateful to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp for giving him his first chance to impress at Borussia Dortmund.
The American left his homeland to sign for Dortmund at age 16 in 2015 and began his life at the Bundesliga training club with his famous youth academy.
It wasn’t until after Klopp left that Pulisic made his first-team debut the following season.
However, reflecting on his early days, the 21-year-old chose the moment when he discovered that the German had summoned him to train with the main squad for the first time.
“I will never forget that one day I was in class and I looked at my phone and it was a text message from my youth coach saying you were training with the first team tonight,” he told 13 & MEpodcast.
(Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
“The rest of the day I wasn’t even paying attention. I can’t think of anything else.
“I’m getting ready, going to train and it’s just unreal that I was 16 or 17 and I’m going to go into the warm-up and there are big names at the time.”
“There is [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan: They were in the Champions League final the year before.
“It’s like I’m coming in and I’m just a 16-year-old boy. I was thinking of doing my best.
“I was so excited and grateful to Jurgen Klopp that he gave me that opportunity.
“I will carry it with me forever and I am truly grateful.”
