Christian Pulisic says "the sky is the limit" for Borussia Dortmund team-mate Jadon Sancho as they prepare to meet on the international stage as England host USA at Wembley.
Sancho is set for his first Three Lions start on Thursday after shining for Bundesliga leaders Dortmund.
The former Manchester City man is following in the footsteps of American poster boy Pulisic, who moved to Germany at 16 and has clocked up over 100 appearances for BVB, and is now courting interest from some of the Premier League’s big six.
Pulisic, unlike many Premier League fans, has had a front-row seat to the show which persuaded Gareth Southgate to bring Sancho into his squad.
The 20-year-old has also played a key role in his team-mate’s rise, offering help at every turn.
“I went through the exact same things as him,” Pulisic said. "Whenever he is going through a tough time he knows I have been through situations like that.
"He knows to talk to me. I am there and I can talk to him. It’s a cool relationship that we have.
“The sky is the limit for a guy like him. A young player coming through, and you can see how much talent and how much skill he has.
"He has done great for Dortmund so far and this season he is doing really well. We want to continue to see those things. Hopefully he will continue on this path.”
He continued: "We talked about it, and possibly playing against each other is going to be really cool. Obviously competing with him every day in training and being good friends off the field and now getting the chance to play on at international level is going to be a fun experience.”
With Pulisic struggling with injury early in the season, he and Sancho have been competing for their spot in the side. The Englishman has scored four and assisting six in his 11 league games so far. Pulisic, meanwhile, has one goal and two assists in seven.
While Dortmund manager Lucien Favre will have a keen eye on the battle between his two stars, Pulisic insists Thursday night is not a chance for him to get one over on his team-mate.
"I don’t see it like that,” he said. “We both want to perform for our countries and we both want to win tomorrow. We are both competitive guys. We both want to do as well as we can.
"It is normal, it took me a while as well," Pulisic added of Sancho's first season.
"My first impressions of him are he is a young guy with a lot of talent. He is being a bigger part of the team now and doing a great job with that."
