The 24-year-old Chelsea and Ghanaian International winger Christian Atsu completed his loan move before the deadline on Wednesday and he is very pleased to get the chance to play on Tyneside.
Christian signed for Chelsea from Porto three years ago for £3.5M but has been sent out on loan every season and sometimes didn’t play too many games.
He is keen to change that at Newcastle and seems very motivated to make the move permanent next summer.
Christian Atsu – signing for Newcastle United
Atsu will need to play very well for that to happen, because if we do get promoted Rafa will be looking for players who can perform well in the Premier League so all players will be available to him.
This summer, by his own admission, Rafa couldn’t get some of his targets to come to Newcastle, simply because we are a second division club.
This is some of what Atsu has said on Newcastle’s web-site after signing – and he is very keen to play in front of the legendary Geordie fans:
“That will be amazing, to play in front of those fans, I can’t wait,” “I’ve seen the fans – they are really great – and playing in front of a lot of fans gives you a lot of confidence.”
“At home, you can see the fans cheering the team. I’m really happy and excited and I can’t wait to play in front of them.”
“It gives you a lot of confidence when you are playing and I always look forward to seeing the fans behind the team, behind the players.”
“It boosts the team forward, so I hope they will be doing that for us each and every time we are playing.”
Atsu is currently away with the Ghana squad (42 caps – 9 goals) so he will have only a couple of days training before we are at Derby County on September 10th – the first of seven games in a short 22 days.
The first time he will get a chance to play at St. James’ Park will be on Saturday 17th September at home to Wolves and we play them again at home on Tuesday, 20th September in the 3rd round of the EFL Cup.
The goal has to be to get 7 wins.
Comments welcome.
10 comments so far
masterp1983
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:14 PM
Comment #1Anyone know what the crack is with Tiote? I didn’t hear that he left so will he be available to play now then?
G
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:16 PM
Comment #2yeah, still our player, rumour has it that he is negotiating to buy his contract out though, and attain free-agent status.
Belfast
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:23 PM
Comment #3Well i’m guessing going by what Rafa has said in the latest interview doing the rounds ie moving players on who want to leave – They will probably mutually agree to cancel his contract.
Could be wrong though.
Belfast
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:24 PM
Comment #4*wanted*
lochinvar
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:30 PM
Comment #5Well Christian,welcome to the Toon.
It’s a unique club and with the positive ground swell of support for the new look team and the hungry attitude of the players you will have your socks blown off once we really get going.
If you need any help with the language translating from Ghanese to Geordie just let us know.
HWTL
Oldgit1
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:33 PM
Comment #65Oldgit1 // Sep 2, 2016 at 12:29 PM
My take on Sissoko transfer.
He is now claiming that Everton did not make any contact with him and had not rebuffed them in any way.
I can recall early days when Rooney was the target of Manu and they put in a very derisory bid. They were the only club in for him, then Shepherd put a bid in for him for 20 million, he eventually went to Manu for 25 million.
None of our supporters believed we could afford him as we were skint, ( this was prior to sky payouts) and believed we just helped Everton to get more money out of Manu which it did.
I see this as Everton returning the favour and forcing the Spurs to up their bid.
I see a lot of this going on with clubs not showing any interest in a player then suddenly puts a late bid in. With initial club always increasing their bid.
A conspiracy theory maybe, but I do wonder if clubs do help each other out.
Blackley and Brownlie
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:42 PM
Comment #7Oldgit
I like your theory. If that were the game, don’t you think Spurs would know the game and the game would therefore be useless? Like noughts and crosses.
MadisonToon
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:46 PM
Comment #8Here’s a hypothetical question for the future:
If we get promoted do we spend the Premier League prize money that we will get at the end of the season in the summer window when we promote to guarantee that we stay up? It will be difficult to compete with other clubs who have just gotten their windfall for finishing the season in the Premier League when all we have in our coffers is the measly cash from promoting from the Championship. Ashley has been clear that NUFC can spend the money they make but no more and I wonder if that will change if we go up – it might be a good move but it’s also a bit of a gamble.
Does anyone know how much 1st and 2nd get in the championship compared to 15 16 17 in the Premier League? Last year 15017th got ~70m over the course of the season including league placement and TV fees. I have a feeling that’s lots more than the Championship winners get, but I don’t really have a good number for it.
lesh
Sep 2, 2016 at 12:47 PM
Comment #9Lochinvar
You’re a bit late with your offer of translation services for Atsu. Jib, our very own Google Meister, was included in the deal as the Club’s official translator/ cultural mentor.
I’m sure the lad’ll appreciate the fans’ offer of help in the unlikely event that Jib’s lost for words or advice.
so-far-king-quick
Sep 2, 2016 at 1:47 PM
Comment #10Madisontoon
Read on sky sports awhile back that hull received 110m for winning promotion in the play offs and that figure will rise to 260m next season of they avoid the drop, Sheffield would of recieved 170m for winning, hull receiving slightly less because they had to forgo parachute payments. The playoff final is always billed as tge most lucrative game of football so surely the actual winners of the league would recieve slightly more money