Christian Atsu Twasam is a Ghanaian winger who plays for English Premier League side Newcastle United.

Date of birth
26-year-old Christian Atsu was born on January 10, 1992, in Ada Foah, Ghana.

Early football career
Atsu started his career at Feyenoord Fetteh Academy in Gomoa, Ghana.

Porto

Atsu was snapped up by Portuguese giants Porto in 2009 and was loaned to Rio Ave. At Rio, he made 27 appearances for the side and scored 6 goals.

He came back to Porto and only made 17 appearances for the club.

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.

He never made an appearance for the Blues and was instead loaned to Dutch side Vitesse.

Loan to Vitesse

He made an impact for the club by making 30 appearances and scoring five goals for the Dutch side as they finished 6th in the league and qualified to the play offs.

Loan to Everton

Atsu was again loaned to English Premier League side Everton for the 2014/15 season. He only played 5 times for Everton and Chelsea shipped him out on loan to Bournemouth in the 2015/16 season.

Loan to Bournemouth

He never made a league appearance for Bournemouth and was recalled by Chelsea and joined Spanish side Malaga on loan.

Loan to Málaga

At Malaga, he had playing time as he played 12 times scoring twice.

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.

In May 2017 Atsu agreed to terms on a permanent switch to Newcastle. He signed a four-year deal at St James' Park and joined the Magpies for £6.2m.

On 24 May 2017, Newcastle United permanently signed Atsu for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal.

Currently, with the side, he has played 30 times and scored 2 goals for the side.


International career

Atsu won his first senior cap for Ghana on 1 June 2012 against Lesotho, scoring in the process. He was described by the BBC as an "excellent prospect", whilst ESPN added he was "quick and technically impressive", and a potential future star for his national team.

The following year, he was in the Ghanaian squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. He started the first match, a 2–2 draw against the DR Congo, and was a substitute in the following 1–0 win over Mali.

He returned to the starting line-up in the last group match against Niger in Port Elizabeth, scoring the second goal of a 3–0 win which put his country into the quarter-finals as group winners.

Atsu featured in the rest of Ghana's matches as they came fourth, scoring in their penalty shootout elimination by Burkina Faso.

Atsu was selected for the 2014 FIFA World Cup squad, starting in all the matches as Ghana were eliminated in the group stage.

At the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Atsu scored twice in a 3–0 win over Guinea in the quarter-finals. He helped the team to the final, where they lost in a penalty shootout against the Ivory Coast. At the end of the tournament, he was awarded with both the Player of the Tournament award, as well as the Goal of the Tournament award for his strike against Guinea.

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