{"id":35904,"date":"2014-07-31T08:59:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T08:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=35904"},"modified":"2014-07-31T09:15:53","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T09:15:53","slug":"sources-christian-atsu-leaning-towards-sunderland-than-everton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/07\/sources-christian-atsu-leaning-towards-sunderland-than-everton\/","title":{"rendered":"Sources: Christian Atsu leaning towards Sunderland than Everton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunderland are closing in on the loan signing of Chelsea winger Christian Atsu, according to Citi Sports sources.<\/p>\n

In the last couple of days, Atsu has been reported to be close to joining Everton on loan following the Toffees\u2019 capture of striker Romelu Lukaku in a permanent \u00a328 million move on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Atsu could be “swayed by better chance of first team football at Sunderland”, who have been given permission to speak with him. (Source)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) July 30, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

If all goes well, Atsu will join another speedster, Patrick van Aanholt, who also made the switch from Stamford Bridge to Sunderland via Vitesse.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Hard choice<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

While Poyet can also develop him well in his style of play,\u00a0Everton will greatly improve him as a player because of Martinez’s track record.<\/p>\n

Public reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n

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