From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 09/2016
Newcastle United FC Season 2016
Personal information
Full name
Christian Atsu Twasam
Date of birth
10 January 1992
Place of birth
Ada Foah, Ghana
Height
1.72 m (5 ft 8 inch)
Playing position
Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Newcastle United
(on loan from Chelsea)
Number
7
Youth career
Feyenoord Fetteh
2000–2009
Porto
2009–2011
Senior career
Porto
2011–2013
17x apps / 1x goal
→ Rio Ave (loan)
2011–2012
27x apps / 6x goals
Chelsea
2013–
0x apps / 0x goal
→ Vitesse (loan)
2013–2014
28x apps / 5x goals
→ Everton (loan)
2014-2015
5x apps / 0x goal
→ Bournemouth (loan)
2015-2016
0x apps / 0x goal
→ Málaga (loan)
2016
12x apps / 2x goals
→ Newcastle United (loan)
2016-
0x apps / 0x goal
National team
Ghana
2012–
42x apps / 9x goals
(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 Aug 2016 (UTC) - National team caps and goals correct as of 22:57, 25 January 2016 (UTC)
Christian Atsu Twasam is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays for English club Newcastle United whilst on loan from Chelsea, and the Ghanaian national team.
He primarily plays as a winger, although he has also been deployed as an attacking midfielder.
He began his career with Porto, also spending a season on loan at Rio Ave.
In 2013 he was signed by Chelsea for £3.5 million, who have loaned him to Vitesse Arnhem, Everton, Bournemouth and Málaga.
A full international with over 30 caps since his debut in 2012, Atsu has represented Ghana at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
He helped the team finish as runners-up at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, in which he also won Player of the Tournament and Goal of the Tournament.
Club career
Atsu was born in Ada Foah, Greater Accra Region.
Porto
Atsu arrived at Porto at the age of 17, finishing his football formation with the club.
On 14 May 2011, he was called up by first-team manager André Villas-Boas for a Primeira Liga match against Marítimo, but he did not leave the bench.
As with teammate Kelvin, Atsu was sent on loan to fellow league side Rio Ave for the 2011–12 season.
He made his debut in the competition on 28 August 2011, in a 0:1 home loss against Olhanense.
On 16 December 2011, Atsu opened the score at Estádio da Luz against Benfica in the 24th minute, but the hosts eventually won it 5:1.
He returned to Porto for the 2012-13 campaign, starting in nine of his league appearances as they won the national championship for the third consecutive time.
Chelsea
On 1 September 2013 Atsu agreed to join Chelsea on a five-year contract, for a reported £3.5 million, being immediately loaned to Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, for the rest of the 2013-14 season.
Loan to Vitesse
On 6 October 2013, Atsu made his debut against Feyenoord as a substitute, replacing Kazaishvili in the 77th minute.
He went on to providing an assist to Mike Havenaar, but it was not enough to prevent a 2:1 loss for Vitesse.
On 19 October, Atsu made his first start against SC Heerenveen, which ended in a 3:2 win for Vitesse.
On 9 November, he converted a penalty for his first goal with Vitesse, against FC Utrecht.
The match ended in a 3:1 win for Vitesse.
In total, Atsu played 30 games and scored 5 goals for the Dutch side as they finished 6th in the league and qualified to the play offs.
Loan to Everton
On 13 August 2014, Atsu joined fellow Premier League club Everton on loan until the end of the 2014-15 season.
He made his first appearance for the club 10 days later, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute for Kevin Mirallas in a 2–2 draw with Arsenal at Goodison Park.
On 21 September 2014, Atsu made his first start in the league against Crystal Palace, which ended in a 2:3 home loss.
After his absence due to the Africa Cup of Nations, Atsu returned to Everton's lineup on 19 February 2015 in a Europa League match against BSC Young Boys, playing out the last five minutes after replacing hat-trick scorer Romelu Lukaku. and came off the bench three days later to set up a late equaliser in a 2:2 draw at home to Leicester City.
On 15 March 2015, in the match against Newcastle United, he came off the bench with 5 minutes remaining, and provided another an assist to fellow substitute Ross Barkley for Everton's third goal of a 3:0 home victory.
Following Atsu's impact as a substitute in the above games, he was picked to start the second leg of a Europa League Round of 16 match away to Dynamo Kyiv on 19 March, with Everton leading 2:1 from the first leg.
His team were eliminated after losing 5:2 on the night, he was withdrawn in the 65th minute, and that was his final first-team appearance for Everton.
Loan to Bournemouth
On 29 May 2015, Atsu was loaned to newly promoted Premier League team Bournemouth for the upcoming season, with club Chief Executive Neill Blake calling the deal "a huge coup".
He made his debut on 25 August in the second round of the League Cup, starting in a 4:0 win at Hartlepool United.
Atsu's only other appearance was in the next round's victory at Preston North End.
He did not feature in any Bournemouth matchday squad in the league and he was recalled from his loan by Chelsea on 1 January 2016.
Loan to Málaga
On 24 January 2016, Atsu gave an interview with the BBC World Service in which he spoke about leaving Chelsea and his imminent transfer to Levante.
The next day, it was confirmed that he would be instead moving to Málaga on loan.
Loan to Newcastle United
On 31 August 2016, it was confirmed that Christian Atsu had joined Newcastle United on a one year loan deal with an option to buy clause in the contract.