Christian Atsu has officially completed his move to Chelsea from Porto after having a successful medical at our training base, Cobham. The 21 year old Ghanian international will spend the rest of the season at Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem joining a group of Chelsea continents already at Vitesse. The player signed a 5 year contract for Chelsea yesterday and flew straight to Netherlands to join with his new team mates at Vitesse.
Atsu is a left-footed attacker, capable of playing as a winger or a second striker, and joined Porto from Cheetah FC in his homeland in the January 2010 transfer window. He quickly won individual and team youth honours including Porto’s Youth Player of the Season for 2010/11. That year he was named on the bench for a first team game by Andre Villas-Boas but was not called into action.
The 2011/12 season was spent on loan at Rio Ave, also in Portugal, where Atsu made 30 appearances in league and cup and scored six goals, earning him the club’s Player of the Season award.
Breaking into the Porto first team last season, he made 17 league appearances as the club won the Portuguese championship, and he gained European experience with eight Champions League games, including a Round of 16 tie against Malaga.
Atsu made his debut for Ghana in June 2012, scoring against Lesotho in a World Cup qualifier, and has been a regular since. He played and scored in the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of the year.
The reason for the loan move is for him to get a first team action week in and week out in order to grow as a player and improve in one of the top 10 leagues in Europe (Eredivisie). Chelsea have a great depth in the attacking midfield area and the signings of Schurrle and Willian this summer transfer window will make it hard for the youngster to break into the first team.
What is your reaction to Jose’s 7th summer singing of the summer window and our new player? Leave us your opinions below and Thanks for reading!
