Christian Pulisic reminded Olivier Giroud of Eden Hazard during their Chelsea days.
Giroud played alongside Pulisic for two years at Chelsea.
The Frenchman had previously teamed up with Hazard at Stamford Bridge, following his move there from Arsenal in 2018.
Hazard left Chelsea for Real Madrid in 2019, having spent seven years in west London. The Belgian ranks third in the Blues’ all-time Premier League chart for goal involvements, with his 139 ranking behind only Didier Drogba (159) and Frank Lampard (237).
And Giroud said he saw shades of Hazard’s play in Pulisic when the American joined Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund.
“Christian reminded me of Eden Hazard, with the way he took on opponents and found it easy to dribble past people,” Giroud said on BBC Sport.
“I played as a target man, and I needed some pace and movement around me, someone like [Pulisic] playing in the pocket between the lines and getting on the ball, looking for me and feeding off my flick-ons.”
Pulisic was unable to cement himself as a star at Chelsea and left for AC Milan in 2023. The United States international has scored 31 goals and provided 21 assists in Serie A for the Rossoneri.
He impressed for the USA in their 4-1 hammering of Paraguay in their World Cup opener, assisting one of Folarin Balogun’s goals.
Pulisic has recorded four World Cup goal contributions (one goal, three assists). Only Landon Donovan (five) has more for the USA since 1966.
“I was not surprised at how well he played against Paraguay because I think that he has got what it takes to take the US team to the next level over the next few weeks,” added Giroud.
“I have always thought the USA are lucky to have him, because he has skill and intelligence.
“At Milan, we used to call him by his nickname, ‘Captain America’, because even when he wasn’t wearing the USA armband, he was their star player, with the biggest profile.
“No one is expecting the USA to win this World Cup, but if they are going to reach the knockout stage, he will be key.”
