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Good Job Rafa – Signing This £6m Versatile Attacker Is A Great Move For Newcastle

Christian Atsu

Why Christian Atsu Is A Great Signing For Newcastle

Having completed a deal to bring Christian Atsu to the club permanently following his loan spell from Chelsea last season, Newcastle look to have landed a very underrated player.

Clubs like Chelsea and indeed Manchester City in recent times have brought in dozens of players from academy players from other English clubs and frankly, there simply isn’t enough room at the inn for them all.

As a result, players end up leaving but that does not mean that they are not good enough or do not have a great future in the game. One such example is Ghanaian winger Atsu who, after a slightly slow start, had an excellent season at Championship level for the Toon last season and became a firm fan favourite towards the end of the campaign.

His beautiful free-kick at Cardiff City in the game which clinched Newcastle’s promotion remains a highlight for thousands of supporters and it showed a calmness and maturity which will surely see him comfortably fit in at Premier League level.

Capable of playing on either side of the attack, the left-footer managed 5 goals and 3 assists in his 32 league appearances, only 17 of which were starts. In fact, Atsu scored or created a goal every 196 minutes in the league last season and given the slow start he made as an inexperienced player, the end result is pretty impressive.

The penny seemed to really drop in the final weeks of the season for Atsu and the improvement in his game week on week was easy to spot for the naked eye. It’s easy to imagine him going up another gear in the opening weeks of next season and as soon as he does, the money Newcastle paid Chelsea for his services is going to look like peanuts.

Atsu has slowly gained more and more experience, playing over 30 times for Porto and Rio Ave before moving to England. Last season saw him make a real first team breakthrough though and that seems to have done him the world of good. He can only improve further.

Winning is a habit. So to see Atsu listed as having won the Portuguese Primeira Liga twice, both domestic cups there and now the Championship in England is a very positive thing indeed. Considering that most clubs now consider getting into the top 4 in England as ‘winning something’, Atsu will be hopeful of achieving more success now he is in Toon.