Chief Executive Officer of Christian Atsu’s Youth club, Cheetah FC, Hayye Yartey has revealed that Christian Atsu offered his full maiden salary which he received at FC Porto to a church in Ghana.
Following the 31-year-old’s untimely death, much has been said about his charitable acts, which included donating to orphans and bailing out minor offenders.
Hayye Yartey, who facilitated the former Chelsea winger’s first move abroad, claims Atsu was a devout Christian who never compromised his faith.
“He was a Christian. Very devoted to his religion, and his Bible. There is a church just behind us where he always wanted to pull his fellow players.
“I remember when Christian went to Porto and succeeded in the trials, Porto went on to pay him 800 euros a month. So I received 800 euros [the same amount as his salary] through Western Union from Christian and I was so happy thinking he had sent me money but his call followed up and he said the 800 euros he had sent was equivalent to x amount of Ghana cedis which he ordered me to give to the church,” he told TV3.
From Porto, Atsu later secured a move to English Premier League side, Chelsea based on the recommendation of then-manager Jose Mourinho.
In all, he played for four different Premier League clubs before leaving for Saudi Arabia and eventually Hatayspor, in Turkey where the tragedy occurred.
