by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Feb 13, 2019

When you've been acquired for $63 million, you're going to attract attention.



When you're an American and have been acquired for $63 million, you're going to attract just a bit more curiosity.



English fans got their first close-up look at Christian Pulisic, who will join Chelsea this summer, when he started in Wednesday's UEFA Champions League match in London between host Tottenham and his current club, Borussia Dortmund.



Opinion about the wisdom of the signing was mixed, to say the least, after Pulisic's 86-minute performance in Dortmund's 3-0 loss.



Pulisic has rarely played in league play this season, but he got the start in the wings along with Jadon Sancho over Raphael Guerrero and Jacob Bruun Larsen for the Bundesliga leaders, who were missing forwards Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer and two other starters through injury or illness.



Pulisic had a lively start for Dortmund but faded in the second half along with his teammates as two late goals gave Tottenham a three-goal lead Dortmund will have a hard time overcoming at home on March 5.





Reviews of the 20-year-old American's performance ranged from "Christian Pulisic leaves Chelsea fans wanting against rivals Tottenham" by the Evening Standard to the assessment in the Daily Mail that he showed "there is more to his Chelsea move than just the American merchandise market -- although he remains something of an unpolished diamond." (It added that with the "right coaching," Pulisic will become more consistent, and that will make him "worth of every penny" of his transfer fee.)



Much of the coverage of Pulisic's Wembley performance centered around not about how he did on the field but how it went over on Twitter, not exactly the forum for level-headed commentary. The Sun reported that Twitter users couldn't believe how Chelsea could pay so much for the "Pennsylvanian Willian" (its name for the replacement for the Brazilian veteran Willian) after his "shocker" against Spurs.



The Daily Express framed Pulisic and his "underwhelming performance against Tottenham" in the context of replacing star Eden Hazard (who is expected to join Real Madrid this summer) and noted that "fans on Twitter were not impressed at all by his performance at Wembley on Wednesday night."



Only the Daily Mirror took a down-the-middle view, presenting its coverage of Pulisic in the form of a scouting report, noting he was tasked with taking set pieces.



On the ratings front, grades ranged from a "7" in the Mirror to a "6" in the Times to a "5" ("peripheral and disappointing") in the Guardian and at talkSport and "4" in the Independent, where it noted Pulisic "got into good positions in both halves but could never take advantage of them, as if he were just lacking the confidence to make the difference when it mattered."



Photo: John Patrick Fletcher/Actionplus/Icon Sportswire