The American spoke exclusively to the official Chelsea app, The 5th Stand, recently as part of the ongoing Footballing Firsts series and revealed that Luis Figo was his idol as a youngster, so much so that he even coined his surname as a nickname thanks to his dad!

‘My first footballing idol was definitely Luis Figo,’ explained Christian to The 5th Stand. ‘He’s someone I looked up to when I was younger.

‘The first shirt I owned was a Luis Figo jersey and I remember wearing it when playing football with my dad in the basement at home back in Hershey.

‘In fact, my nickname then was actually Figo! My dad started it and sometimes he even still calls me it now.’

While the Portuguese legend, who had spells at both Barcelona and Real Madrid in an illustrious career, was a star in the eyes of a young Pulisic, who would our American forward love to play alongside at Chelsea if he had the chance?

‘That’s tough, man!’ Pulisic beams.

‘I mean Figo was my favourite player growing up but I definitely wouldn’t mind having [Lionel] Messi on my team. Can I choose both?’

You can find out much more about Pulisic’s life growing up in America and what else he enjoyed as a youngster by reading the full interview on the Chelsea app now.

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