The former MLS player that made a controversial statement about Christian Pulisic

In an interview with NBC Sports, former New York City player Frank Lampard praised Christian Pulisic at the start of the new Premier League season. The player of the US national team will play his second season at Chelsea and will be the heir to the number "10" after the departure of William to Arsenal.

"I think last year, I had every feeling that Christian was going to come here and be a huge player for the club. I knew his talent, I saw it very early on in his time here and it became very much a talking point in and around the club when I didn’t start Christian that regularly in the early parts of the season. I genuinely felt it was for time for him to adapt to the league, having come off the back of having one week off in between seasons" Lampard said.

The previous season Pulisic suffered 4 injuries that kept him off the pitch for more than 100 days. On this Lampard said: "The only thing we have to continue to do is manage him because he’s so fast, and the way he plays, we have to manage to try to come away from those big injuries he had last year. That’s something that’s a work in progress between medical and my conversations with Christian because we all know what a fit Christian Pulisic can do".

He also expressed how he has seen it after the return for the new season: "He's come back looking really hungry. I think he will only improve with the players that we have brought around him, in those attacking areas".