Ghana international Christian Atsu has opened up about his unflourishing spell at Chelsea.

The speedster joined the English giants in a five-year deal in 2013 after excelling at both FC Porto and Rio Ave in Portugal.

Limited opportunities at Stamford Bridge, however, forced him out on successive loans to Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands, Everton, Bournemouth, Malaga and Newcastle, whom he joined permanently in 2017.

“Football is always about chance and when you have the chance you have to take it, work hard and keep going,” the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations best player told the Mirror.

“The problem is sometimes players find it very difficult to find the right club and when they do it’s harder to find the right coach to give them the chance to play.

“Then there is the rare cases of when a player goes to a particular club and no matter what he does things just don’t go well for him.

“In my situation, the only choice I had was to continue working hard and knowing that I would find what I want, and then Newcastle came along.

“I worked hard then when the opportunities started coming I listened to the manager and gave off my best.

“Everywhere you find yourself there is a reason you are there and for me at that time maybe I was meant to learn something from there.”