Christian Atsu
From TheChels.info - The Chelsea Football Club Wiki
| Christian Atsu | |
| |
| Full Name | Christian Atsu Twasam |
| Date of Birth | 10 January 1992 |
| Place of Birth | Ada Foah, Ghana |
| Position | Winger Forward |
| Chelsea career | 2013 - 2017 |
| Debut | n/a |
| Games (goals) | n/a |
| Other clubs | Porto Vitesse Arnhem (loan) Everton (loan) Bournemouth (loan) Málaga (loan) Newcastle United (loan) |
Christian Atsu is a Ghanaian international forward who joined Chelsea from Porto in 2013 and spent four years attached to the club before leaving in 2017 to join Newcastle United.
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Before Chelsea
Born in Ada Foah, Ghana, Atsu joined Porto at the age of 17, having begun his career at the Feyernoord academy in Ghana. Though he was briefly involved with the first team squad under André Villas-Boas he was soon loaned to top-flight Portuguese side Rio Ave and would spend the 2011-12 season at the club, featuring regularly. Returning to Porto for the 2012-13 season, he went on to make nine starts and eight substitute appearances over the course of the season, scoring once.
Chelsea career
On 1 September 2013 Chelsea confirmed that Atsu had signed for the club and would spend the season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem. The fee was reported to be £3.5m [1]. He immediately became a first choice starter in a central attacking midfield position, playing alongside Lucas Piazon and displacing Gael Kakuta from the Vitesse side.
He flourished even further in the second half of the campaign as he was given more responsibility in an attacking role and was named Vitesse's Player of the Season. After an impressive World Cup for Ghana, he joined Everton on loan for the duration of the 2014-15 season.
That move, however, did not quite go to plan. Injury, illness and international duty contributed to a succession of struggles in getting regular football, with the Europa League his only real opportunity and that came in a much weakened Everton team. Seeking to put it behind him and take his career to the next level, he agreed to join newly-promoted AFC Bournemouth for the 2015-16 season. Unfortunately, a serious back injury limited him to just two appearances in the League Cup and so in the following January he swapped the English south coast for the Spanish, joining Málaga for the remainder of the campaign. Those same injury problems continued to afflict him but he was able to bookend his stay with a pair of goals.
Newcastle United secured a season-long loan for 2016-17 along with an option to make the move permanent, something they did in May 2017 after Atsu had helped them to win the Championship and secure promotion back to the Premier League.
International
Atsu won his first senior cap for Ghana in a match against Lesotho on 1 June 2012 in which he also scored. He was included in their squad for the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was named the Best Player at the 2015 African Cup of Nations.
Statistics
Senior Club Football
| Season | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 2013-14 | Vitesse Arnhem (loan) | 28 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 5 |
| 2014-15 | Everton (loan) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 2015-16 | Bournemouth (loan) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2015-16 | Málaga (loan) | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| 2016-17 | Newcastle (loan) | 32 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 5 |
| Total | 77 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 92 | 12 | |
