Chelsea's Atsu expected to sign on loan to the Cherries

Christian Atsu is a former Porto player who joined Chelsea In 2013 for £3.5 million but has been out on loan at Vitesse Arnham and then Everton last season. While he did not get many games for the Toffees he is a Ghanian who has now played in the Premier League as well as the World Cup. Compared to the experience of AFCB’s current players Atsu has more experience than many of top flight football and he should be a player who can compete for a place hopefully not only on the bench but even for a starting position.

We are still waiting to see if he will be signed but if it happens today this will surely put pressure on the position of Junior Stanislas and perhaps Ryan Fraser if Atsu can play on either wing. He has played as an attacking midfielder as well through the centre. At Everton he was mainly used as a sub and featured in their Europa League matches replacing Romelo Lukaku in one game up front. Looking at his profile, Christian Atsu really needs a run of games to see what he can really do. Chelsea clearly saw potential in the player if they offered him a five year contract, but he has something to prove now.

Eddie Howe has not brought in many loan signings during his tenure and how this potential move has come about is not clear yet, but we should hear more in the next few days. It is likely that AFCB watched Atsu during the Africa Cup of Nations and have been tracking him for a while. With Matt Ritchie now heavily involved in the Scottish squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers it is a reasonable thought to believe that Atsu would be a signing that offers good cover for Matt if he does miss a few games through injury.

Atsu had was at Dean Court yesterday and if he does sign he would be the third signing of the summer (make that the fourth now after Josh King signed today) and yet another international player that Eddie Howe has added to his squad this May after Adam Federici signed yesterday, for three-years, and Artur Boruc signed, for a year, earlier in the week. 

Christian's deal  though has probably taken a lot of people by surprise at its suddenness and by the fact that Christian Atsu is not a name that many fans will have heard of south of Merseyside. He could also be joined by Josh King who is out of contract in the summer.