Newcastle United signed Christian Atsu on a permanent contract from Chelsea in the summer transfer window.
Atsu spent the 2016-17 season on loan at Newcastle from Premier League giants Chelsea.
The 25-year-old midfielder played an important role in the Magpies’ automatic promotion from the Championship.
In the summer of 2017, Newcastle signed the Ghana international for a transfer fee reported by The Guardian to be worth £6 million.
Newcastle manager Benitez has explained why he signed Atsu, responding to those who criticised the deal by saying that the former FC Porto midfielder was very cheap.
The former Liverpool and Chelsea manager, though, has admitted that he does to know if Atsu can be at the level that he wants him to be.
Benitez told The Chronicle: “Some people were saying at the beginning: ‘Oh Atsu, why will we keep Atsu?’
“But he is very cheap now, when you see the market he is very cheap, and you can see that he can improve.
“Can he be at the level that we need for him to do ‘this’ or ‘that’? I don’t know, but he’s someone that you know has improved and will keep improving because he’s keen to learn.”
Atsu is still quite unproven in the Premier League, but working under Benitez is only going to help him develop and improve as a footballer.
Newcastle are ninth in the Premier League table at the moment with 10 points from seven matches, just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
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