Christian Pulisic was written from the history of Dortmund …

It was not easy to watch. The yellow submarine Borussia Dortmund suffered and spent 45 minutes sterile to face a Monaco team coming to preserve, rather than create, nothing more than a shadow of the team that had traveled all four last years of the Champions League. earlier. This legacy of exciting young contenders from Europe was supposed to be in Dortmund, but during the first half of that chilly European night in Dortmund in October, something was not the same: gears were locked, football did not flow.

How the team had missed Christian Pulisic, marginalized with an injury to the groin. It was the feeling that animated the minds at Signal Igunda Park, not least, one thinks, Pulisic himself, watching while the passes failed to find their targets and that football refused to catch fire . For so many years, or what seems like years, is it easy to forget that Pulisic debuted in yellow and black in 2016? – these intelligent dribbles and surprising grips negotiated on behalf of this team.

What could the American have done with coach Lucien Favre's half-time coach, exchanging with the young star striker Jacob Bruun Larsen, congratulated this season for his kismetic link with Jadon Sancho, the second prodigy of the season? What about the 18-year-old slip rule that removed three Monegasque defensemen from the game and put Bruun Larsen in the service of the coolest finals? And then, the ease with which the organizers went into high gear once the stalemate broke and frustration stung?

The first surprise is that the start of the electrical season in Dortmund is not due to Pulisic. The second is that it happens largely without him. When he played, the verve was not always there, his class unmistakable on the ball was not highlighted. The yellow revolution – say it softly – almost seems to be happening despite the hero and talisman of the team.

Pulisic's goals and help are down. It is less dribbling and the numbers show that its passage is not as accurate. Manuel Veth, writing for Pro Soccer USA, said the American playmaker was trying to score 0.5 times less with the ball per game than last season. On the only occasion this season when Dortmund faced a wall, he scored less than 72% and lost the ball four times as the team lost 2-0 to Atletico in Madrid to end their unbeaten year .

It is possible that after an intense two and a half years of minimal rest and huge expectations, the demands placed on a player who is not yet 21 years old are beginning to manifest themselves. Pulisic has played more than 100 first team club matches since the winter of 2016. Last Friday at Wembley, he took a close look at what happens to push a player too strong and too young: an international send only 31 years old and over. a few short seasons grazing MLS.

Wayne Rooney's circus farewell for England against the United States also gave Pulisic 90 minutes of time alongside his team-mate Dortmund, Sancho, which no longer seems to be guaranteed in the Bundesliga. As Favre seems to be nominated by Marco Reus as number 10 and by two more advanced midfielder positions to be filled, it is not an exaggeration to think of a future in which Sancho and Bruun Larsen will play away while Pulisic will remain at his post.

That in itself would surely leave him receptive to the stealthy glances that Chelsea has made in his direction, and the ticking of his contract before it expires in 2020 already seems to be hasten his departure for the Premier League.

But it is the loss of its influence, the decrease of its contributions in this swirling season of Dortmund which is the true story. For two years, he thrived on a team that struggled to live up to expectations, playing at a higher level than those around him. Now that the team is flying, there are two new kids who are stealing the headlines, and the American is coming out of the story.

The bugle call is clear. Pulisic is an exceptional talent, who has not yet three seasons of a fascinating career behind him. But he was replaced as the star of the Bundesliga and Dortmund and the league took advantage of this new blood. Germany is ready to let fly his adopted son. New shores are beckoning.

Robert O'Connor