Posted by Coach Bala, the man who discovered and managed Christian Atsu at colts level has expressed his sadness following his shocking death.
Christian Atsu was confirmed dead on Saturday morning after his body was found 12 days after he went missing after a devastating earthquake that struck some cities in Turkey and Syria, one which took over 40,000 lives.
“First of all we thank God. It is sad but the wish of man is not the will of God. Atsu is someone who cares about peoples wellbeing. We have a lot of foreign based players but I’ll say he’s the care cater of our team so far,” says Coach Bala who’s the owner of juvenile side Peace Boys FC.
“Even before he left, he made so many promises to the team but our wish is not the will of God. We need to take heart because God is all knowing.”
When quizzed about some of the good things Atsu has done for his team, he said: “If i should start spitting out the kindness he does for the team, i don’t think I’ll be done now but i will try and make it a brief one.”
“Christian Atsi plays a very important rule in the team. He cater for the kids and even the ones who bring from the village. He as well buys us jerseys for the league and he even bought a bus for the team recently. Infact, he did a lot of kindness to the coaches as well,” he added.
Atsu started his career with Peace Boys FC before leaving to join Feyenoord Football Academy, now named West African Football Academy (WAFA).
He later moved to join Cheetah FC, where he secured a move to FC Porto in 2009. Atsu played for FC Porto’s youth team for two years and was promoted to the senior team at the start of the 2011/12 season, but spent the season on loan at Rio Ave.
The diminutive winger returned to Porto for the 2012/13 and shone at the club. His performances caught the attention of Chelsea and was signed by the club for £3.5 million.
Atsu spent 5 seasons at Chelsea but never made an appearance for the team. During the 5 seasons, he was out on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, Everton, AFC Bournemouth, Málaga and Newcastle.
In May 2017, Atsu completed a permanent transfer to Newcastle, where he spent four seasons and made over 70 Premier League appearances.
Following the end of his four-year contract at Newcastle, he played for Al Raed in Saudi Arabia and Hatayspor in Turkey, where he died in an earthquake at age 31.
At National level, Atsu made 65 appearances for the Ghana national team from 2012 to 2019. He represented the country at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Atsu helped the team finish as runners-up at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, in which he also won Player of the Tournament and Goal of the Tournament.