Borussia Dortmund are delighted that Christian Pulisic has decided to sign a contract extension at the Westfalenstadion amid interest from Premier League.
Pulisic, 18, on Monday signed a one-year contract extension at Borussia Dortmund on Monday, and is now tied to the Bundesliga side until 2020.
"That's a big success for us," BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said on kicker.tv.
In recent months, the U.S. international had been strongly linked with Liverpool, although Dortmund ruled out a potential sale in late 2016 of the winger who joined in early 2015 and has made a total of 31 competitive appearances so far.
Speaking on kicker.tv on Monday, Dortmund CEO Watzke said he was happy to have beaten Premier League clubs to Pulisic's signature for now.
"Half of Premier League is owned by Americans, and they could all imagine [to sign him] with the U.S. market and because he's an outstanding player," Watzke said.
"He's only 18 years, he's swift as an arrow, has a great will. We have now extended his contract. That's a big success for us."
Earlier on Monday, Dortmund beat Real Madrid to the signature of 17-year-old Sweden international Alexander Isak and Watzke said that those few hours were exemplary for "the path we are on.
"We need to develop players. We were all but bankrupt 12 years ago, we need to work that way. It was already the case with [Robert] Lewandowski," Watzke said, also citing the example of Shinji Kagawa, who joined from Japan for a transfer fee of €300,000 in 2010.
However, Watzke warned to not compare Isak to Manchester United attacker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
"Don't call him the new Zlatan," he said. "We'll allow him time to develop."
During the 55-minute long TV show, the Dortmund chief also defended Germany international Mario Gotze, 24, against criticism following his 90 minutes on the bench at Bremen.
"Mario has played the first half of the season as was to be expected. We can't complain," Watzke said. "We have 16, 17, 18 good players, everyone will sit on the bench at one stage. We need to be careful not be overcritical with the guy who scored the World Cup winning goal. It already damaged others."