Newcastle sign Chelsea's Christian Atsu on four-year contract

LONDON -- Newcastle have announced that they have completed the permanent signing of Christian Atsu from Chelsea for a reported fee of £6.2 million.

Atsu becomes Rafa Benitez's first signing of the summer subject to a work permit, after scoring five goals in 32 appearances on loan at St James' Park last season to help Newcastle achieve automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

"We are happy to sign a good player," Benitez said of Atsu on Newcastle's official website. "He's shown us that he's a good professional and someone who is very keen to learn and improve.

"Christian has been a key part of our promotion campaign and he wants to help us to build something for the future."

Atsu joined Chelsea from Porto for £3.5m in 2013 but never made a competitive appearance for the Blues, instead spending time on loan at Vitesse, Everton, Bournemouth and Malaga before joining Newcastle on a season-long deal in August.

He is the seventh former Chelsea loanee to be sold since the end of the 2015-16 season, with deals being done for Mohamed Salah, Papy Djilobodji, Patrick Bamford, Stipe Perica, Marko Marin and Juan Cuadrado, who joined Juventus in a reported £17.3m deal earlier this week.

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