Sunderland are closing in on the loan signing of Chelsea winger Christian Atsu, according to Citi Sports sources.
In the last couple of days, Atsu has been reported to be close to joining Everton on loan following the Toffees’ capture of striker Romelu Lukaku in a permanent £28 million move on Wednesday.
The 22-year old was a big hit at the World Cup despite his nation crashing out at the group stage, and following an impressive season on loan at Vitesse looks ready to make a step up into the Premier League.
That will not be at Chelsea, naturally, because even Romelu Lukaku can’t even force his way into their squad, so Sunderland may just be the ones to benefit instead.
Atsu could be “swayed by better chance of first team football at Sunderland”, who have been given permission to speak with him. (Source)
— Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) July 30, 2014
The left-footed Atsu would certainly add plenty of pace and energy to the Sunderland flanks, which had been a serious deficiency that Sporting Director Lee Congerton identified last season which was in urgent need of addressing.
If all goes well, Atsu will join another speedster, Patrick van Aanholt, who also made the switch from Stamford Bridge to Sunderland via Vitesse.
Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has said he wants – almost demanded in fact – four new additions in the next week, so it appears that things are just starting to really hot up.
Hard choice
The most important thing is that he gets to play in the EPL. Atsu is, with all respect to a decent league, too good for the Eredivisie.
That said, it will be easier for Atsu to get in the team at Sunderland but the challenge at Everton would help him improve as a player.
While Poyet can also develop him well in his style of play, Everton will greatly improve him as a player because of Martinez’s track record.
Public reaction
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By: Gary Al-Smith/citifmonline.com/Ghana