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Sunderland are closing in on the loan signing of Chelsea winger Christian Atsu according to Sky Sports.
The Ghanaian was a big hit at the World Cup despite his nation crashing out at the group stage, and following an impressive season on loan at Vitesse looks ready to make a step up into the Premier League. That won't be at Chelsea, naturally, because even Romelu Lukaku can't even force his way into their squad, so Sunderland may just be the ones to benefit instead.
Chelsea winger Christian Atsu given permission for talks with Sunderland over loan move. #cfc #safc
— Pete O'Rourke (@SkySportsPeteO) July 30, 2014
The left-footed Atsu would certainly add plenty of pace and energy to the Sunderland flanks, which had been a serious deficiency that Sporting Director Lee Congerton identified last season which was in urgent need of addressing. If all goes well, Atsu will join another speedster, Patrick van Aanholt, who also made the switch from Stamford Bridge to Sunderland via Vitesse.
Gus Poyet has said he wants - almost demanded in fact - four new additions in the next week, so it appears that things are just starting to really hot up.
