The rise of Dortmund youngster Christian Pulisic

Unsurprisingly, the story begins with Christian's parents Mark and Kelley, who met while playing football at George Mason University in the 1980s. Mark later became a professional indoor soccer player, spending his eight-year career with the Harrisburg Heat before moving into coaching. He insists that he and Kelley never put pressure on Christian – who was born in September 1998 – to follow in their footballing footsteps.

"We almost pushed him in directions other than soccer,” Mark told philly.com. "He wasn't forced in any manner. I wanted to make sure he was making the decision. Things don't work if you're forcing training on kids."

As it turned out, though, Christian was only too happy to embrace the family tradition – especially after a year-long stint in England as a child, which transformed his curiosity about soccer into a genuine passion.

In 2005, Kelley received a Fulbright scholarship to work on a teaching exchange in Tackley, a small village around eight miles north of Oxford, while Mark made the most of being in the UK to study for his UEFA 'A' coaching badge. As for seven-year-old Christian, he joined local club Brackley Town, and spent an unforgettable year soaking up England's football-mad culture.

"A lot of people don't realise but it really brought on my passion for the game," Pulisic told The Daily Mail. "I just started to love it so much and I said: 'Wow. I'm pretty good! I think I can do something with this game.'"

"We were football crazy," Mark admitted to Sky Sports. "We travelled all over and took in all the nuances of what English football is: the craziness outside the stadiums, the chanting inside and signing the songs. Christian remembers it to this day. For sure it had an impact in the short time we were there."

Following a year in which he visited English football cathedrals Anfield, Old Trafford and White Hart Lane, Pulisic returned to the United States with stars in his eyes. In a piece for The Players' Tribune in November 2017, he touched on the differences between soccer culture in America – where other sports hog the limelight – and places where it has been dominant for generations.

"Soccer, it's just this way of life in other countries," he wrote. "It's part of the fabric of who they are, and of what they do. There's this sense of identity that I think is baked into global soccer – that touches everyone, and connects everyone together. If your city's club team is having success, or if your national team is having success, there's just this amazing sense of personal pride that comes with it. And it's hard to put into words how powerful that is."

Fuelled by his newfound passion for soccer, Pulisic set about developing his natural talent and honing a keen sense of competitive spirit. After a spell with Michigan Rush – while his father was coaching the Detroit Ignition – he joined PA Classics, where he would spend almost seven years maturing into the player that Dortmund were so keen to sign in 2015.

Pulisic's time with the Classics – a U.S. Soccer Development Academy side – also put him on the national team's radar. He began playing for the U15s in 2012, at just 13, and went on to score 21 goals in 28 international appearances over the next two years. Tab Ramos, U.S. Soccer's youth technical director and U20s coach, recalls the first time he saw the Hershey native in action.

"He looked like someone's little brother that just jumped on the field, and I was waiting for someone to get him out," Ramos told Sports Illustrated. "Then I realised, 'Wow, not only does he look like he doesn't belong physically, but he's running the show. You watched the game for about five minutes and you realised that everybody was playing through him. And the pace of the game was completely run by him."