Christian Atsu
Christian Atsu Twasam (10 January 1992 – c. 6 February 2023) was a Ghanaian professional footballer who primarily played as a winger, although he was deployed as an attacking midfielder or left back.
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Atsu with Ghana in 2015 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Christian Atsu Twasam | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 10 January 1992 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ada Foah, Ghana | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 6 February 2023 (aged 31) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Antakya, Turkey | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Winger | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Feyenoord Fetteh | |||||||||||||||||
| Cheetah | |||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | Porto | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2013 | Porto | 17 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | → Rio Ave (loan) | 27 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2017 | Chelsea | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | → Vitesse (loan) | 28 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | → Everton (loan) | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | → Bournemouth (loan) | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016 | → Málaga (loan) | 12 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | → Newcastle United (loan) | 32 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2021 | Newcastle United | 75 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Al Raed | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Hatayspor | 3 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 207 | (23) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2019 | Ghana | 65 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Atsu began his career with Porto, also spending a season on loan at Rio Ave. In 2013, he was signed by Chelsea for £3.5 million, who subsequently loaned him to Vitesse Arnhem, Everton, Bournemouth and Málaga. After spending the 2016–17 season on loan at Newcastle United, he completed a permanent transfer to the club in May 2017. Following the end of his four-year contract he played for Al Raed in Saudi Arabia and Hatayspor in Turkey, where he died in the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake at age 31.
A full international with 65 caps from 2012 to 2019, Atsu represented Ghana at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. He helped the team finish as runners-up at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, in which he also won Player of the Tournament and Goal of the Tournament.