Abdul-Hayye Yartey, the owner of Christian Atsu’s boyhood club Cheetah FC, says the news of the player’s death left him weeping profusely.
Following the confirmation of his death on Saturday morning, the mortal remains of Atsu was transported to Ghana on Sunday evening.
The former Black Stars player had been trapped in rubble nearly two weeks after the massive earthquake that killed many people in Turkey.
Speaking to TV3 at the Kotoka International Airport, where the lifeless body was received from Turkey, Abdul-Hayye Yartey said “It was a difficult 12 days. A lot of conflicting stories till Saturday, when we received the devastating news that Christian is gone.
“When Nana Sechere[Atsu’s manager] called me and said, Yartey, Christian is passed, I can say my heart stopped beating for a second and afterwards I cried like a baby. I’ve received news of so many deaths but seriously, Christian’s death actually hit me hard.”
Abdul-Hayye Yartey who picked Atsu as a raw talent, helped him to hone his skills which eventually landed him in places beyond imagination.
When Atsu achieved his aim of playing top-flight football in Europe, he didn’t hesitate to give back to society. The 31-year-old has made donation to the needy including providing boots for young players in his former club Cheetah FC.
According to Abdul-Hayye Yartey, the team feel the pain of Atsu’s death more because of his kind-heartedness.
“Christian was an angel on earth and it is going to be very very difficult to replace him. Not only because of his talent but because of the person that Christian was.
With regards to his relationship with Cheetah FC and how it is going to affect us, Christian is ours we saw him and where he started from and where he was before this tragic situation happened to him. He was one that we always used to get the players inspired by what he did in the world so I think it hit Cheetah very well,” he added.
