It’s taken some time as everyone knew Christian Atsu will be signing for Chelsea from FC Porto and we also already knew that he’d be loaned out to Vitesse Arnham but it has finally been confirmed by the club.
Atsu, 21, signed a five-year deal to join the Stamford Bridge club from the Portuguese champions and is something of a surprise purchase as yet another winger on the books.
The Ghanaian international mostly plays out on the left wing but can operate as a supporting striker and has been described as both quick and direct, although a number of my Twitter followers that watch Portuguese football tell me he’s somewhat raw and unrefined at the moment, so will need a lot of work and hopefully Vitesse will help him.
Atsu first made his name in Europe when he had a successful spell on loan from Porto to Rio Ave (2011/12), where he played 30 games, scored six goals and contributed four assists. Last season he played a fair few games for Porto (28), scored one, assisted four times and picked up a league winners’ medal as Porto snatched the title from Benfica lat in the campaign. It’s likely that he’ll get a lot more playing time in the Eredivisie.
He’s also featured for his country 16 time (three goals) after making his debut, and scoring, back in 2012 against Lesotho in a World Cup qualifier and he went on to play in the African Cup of Nations this year.
I’m a little bit surprised that we have opted to sign another winger and even though he may be considered as one for the future our current wingers/attacking midfielders are still very young, so not sure how long it will be before he’s in a blue shirt or if he’ll get to play for us at all. There’s a few theories that he’s been signed as potential but could end up being sold for profit if he impresses, but we’ll see.
Source: ChelseaFC.com
Why is Chelsea loaning up to 3 or more players to one club?