Christian Pulisic, Lionel Messi amongst most popular players in the United States: Report

The United States have always been a peculiar market for football and the holiday season has seen the rise of jersey sales. Now a recent report has analysed jersey sales in the country to analyse the popularity of top footballers plying their trade in Europe's top league. While Lionel Messi has continued to dominate the lists, USMNT star Christian Pulisic has also seen his jersey sales rise in his home country. 

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Lionel Messi shirt sales US top other footballers in during holiday season

According to a report by Soccer.com, Lionel Messi continues to be the most popular footballer in the United States. However, homegrown hero Christian Pulisic also saw his shirt sales increase during the holidays as he finished behind the Barcelona captain ahead of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and Juventus ace Cristiano Ronaldo. Paris Saint-Germain star and World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe finished fourth, followed by Manchester United ace Marcus Rashford. 

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The magnitude of the Pulisic shirt sales was witnessed after another graphic of their research was published by Soccer.com. Messi and Pulisic largely dominated the landscape, with Ronaldo making up fro the rest of the spot available on the map. Incidentally, Marcus Rashford and Kylian Mbappe did not shirt sales in any of the states, yet found a great number of buyers according to the report.

However, some surprising names held sway in some territories with Liverpool ace Sadio Mane topping shirt sales in Oregon, while Juventus centre-back  Leonardo Bonucci topped the shirt sales in South Dakota, while Bruno Fernandes topped the charts in North Dakota. Tottenham ace Dele Alli also had a lot of fans in Vermont and the England international topped the shirt sales in the region.

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Lionel Messi topped shirt sales in 20 of the US districts, followed by Chelsea ace Christian Pulisic who lead shirt sales in 17 districts. Ronaldo held sway over his rivals in five districts, while Mane, Bruno Fernandes, Dele Alli and Leonardo Bonucci shared the remaining four. Football has been increasingly popular in the West, with teams playing more pre-season tournaments in the United States. However, that wasn't the case this season amidst the coronavirus pandemic, with teams having curtailed pre-season due to the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed by their respective governments. 

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(Image Courtesy: Lionel Messi, Christian Pulisic Instagram)