PHILADELPHIA — The Christian Pulisic Story begins not far from here – two hours west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, in quaint little Hershey. This story, however, begins elsewhere. In basements and offices, living rooms and bedrooms, coast to coast.

There, a few short years ago, soccer fans began tracking the Great American Hope. Diehards still remember the all-touch highlight reels. The amateurish streams. The match reports from unverified Twitter accounts. The fanatical blog posts.

They were integral tools for an American soccer community obsessed with the future. And they have framed a debate that has accompanied the first three years of Pulisic’s U.S. national team career. A behavioral scientist might call it anchoring. What is Pulisic’s best position? Well, he was a winger when he flickered onto most fans’ radars. He was a winger when he broke Bundesliga “youngest to” records, and a winger when he burst into Champions League 11s.

He was, therefore, a winger.

Period.

At least in fans’ eyes.

To play him elsewhere was to deviate from a quite successful norm.

Thus, as national team coach after national team coach tended to do just that, handing Pulisic a variety of central roles, public discussion surrounding the tendency was primed by an idea that it was unnatural. After the USMNT’s 2019 Gold Cup opener, a journalist suggested to Pulisic that he was “not playing in [his] typical position.”

Pulisic’s calm, hushed, perhaps slightly annoyed voice interjected.

And so will we, briefly, with a refresher. When Dortmund scouts first fell for Pulisic, he was starring for the U.S. under-17s. The coach of that team was Richie Williams. “For us,” Williams tells Yahoo Sports, “at the beginning, he might have played a little bit out wide. But very quickly, we realized his potential ... and we ended up putting him inside.”

So back to Pulisic. “I’ve played there a lot throughout my career,” he said two weeks ago as teammates filed out of Allianz Field. “I’ve played in the middle a lot. And I’m comfortable there.”

Which does not mean he’ll always be there. His role evolves, by the game, and even within one. “I can see also that he can play wide, because of his explosive pace, and his ability to get by someone,” Gregg Berhalter recently said.

“But I think he has versatility,” the USMNT boss continued. That versatility, rather than an anchored positional designation, should be the baseline for this discussion.

The source of Pulisic’s versatility

When Pulisic reports to Chelsea Football Club for preseason later this month, he’ll arrive ready to learn from his ninth manager in less than three calendar years.

At Dortmund, there was Thomas Tuchel, then Peter Bosz, then Peter Stoger, then Lucien Favre. With the USMNT, there was Jurgen Klinsmann, then Bruce Arena, then Dave Sarachan, and now Berhalter. At Chelsea, there was Maurizio Sarri, until there wasn’t. Frank Lampard will reportedly be Pulisic Coach No. 9 instead.

It’s a remarkable amount of upheaval for an under-21 player to endure.

“But I think it’s been really good for me,” Pulisic said Saturday when asked about the turnover. “I’ve learned a lot under different coaches. I’ve had different systems, I’ve seen different ideas ... To me, it’s only really helped.”

It’s also nothing new for a kid who grew up on the move. From 3-v-3 near Hershey to futsal in Detroit. From hardcourts in England to the plush green lawns of Barcelona’s famed La Masia in Spain. From U.S. Soccer’s development academy to its residency program to Dortmund’s under-19s, Pulisic had already been exposed to a wide variety of environments when he turned pro.

View photos Christian Pulisic celebrates scoring for Dortmund during a B-Juniors Bundesliga semifinal match against RB Leipzig in 2015. (Getty) More

The diverse soccer upbringing diversified his understanding of the game. Pulisic also watched European footy throughout his youth. He played in pressure-free and unstructured settings.

Story continues