Christian Pulisic is a soccer player ahead of his time.
The U.S. men’s national team and Borussia Dortmund phenom turned 19 on Monday. To mark the occasion, ESPN’s Paul Carr compiled and shared some statistics which undoubtedly will fuel the Pulisic hype train and perhaps send it (back) into overdrive.
Here’s how Pulisic’s numbers compare with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo before the soccer superstars turned 19:
WONDER BOY GONNA BE GREATEST PLAYER EVAH!!! 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/RKvDRKZskJ
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) September 18, 2017
Ronaldo, 32, and Messi, 30, both are in the running for greatest-of-all-time status, but they weren’t producing goals at the rate Pulisic has over the first 18 months of his professional career.
Pulisic’s attacking statistics also dwarf those of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, who jointly hold the USMNT’s goals record with 57.
Christian Pulisic has far more experience by age 19 than Dempsey or Donovan. (Not entirely apples-to-apples, but still…) pic.twitter.com/HeoZXTImkv
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) September 18, 2017
Pulisic, a native of Hershey, Pa., has been USA’s leading light during this final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Happy birthday to Christian Pulisic!
🎉🎉Not a bad World Cup qualifying campaign before turning 19: pic.twitter.com/6N2AreAMsU
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) September 18, 2017
And he has only just begun to play the sport at the senior-professional level.
Thumbnail photo via Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports Images
