It seems like the only time Christian Atsu actually gets to play is when he gets called up the Ghanian national team. Despite decent performances at the World Cup in 2014 and an excellent tournament at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Atsu has failed to establish himself in his last two loans, to Everton last season and Bournemouth this season.
While the kid is clearly not without talent and a good turn of pace to boot — he was even a candidate for the Ballon d'Or on the back of his Cup of Nations showing — his club season so far, as it turns out, has been largely one of injury woe.
"He picked up a knock on international duty, that's why he hasn't been seen and is now back at Chelsea for treatment. This has been dragging on for about six weeks. He got a knock on his shin in the first international break that put him out for a couple of weeks and then he got kicked again a couple of weeks after and that has resulted in him having to go back to Chelsea for treatment."
"Unfortunately we haven't seen Christian here for about a month. It's going to take time for him to get fit again. It has been a real shame. The timeframe is unknown at the moment but it is a stress fracture on his shin. We don't think it is anything serious, there will be no long-term problems but he may be back at Chelsea for another three to four weeks."
"He's a very talented player and the big disappointment for us is that every time we have got him fit and conditioned to play he has then picked up - due to no fault of his own - an injury. He has been very upbeat, he is a lovely character. He played well in the two Capital One Cup games - we would love to see more of him."
-Eddie Howe; source: Guardian
There hadn't been much in the way of updates regarding Atsu's status; we only knew that he wasn't playing. At least now we know why. Hopefully he recovers quickly and finds some success in the second half of the season. That's something we could all use around here.