Since the earthquake in Turkey and Syria in early February, conflicting information has circulated about the fate of Christian Atsu. The reality is cruel. The Ghanaian footballer of the Turkish club Hatayspor was found dead under the rubble of his building in Hatay in southern Turkey, his agent announced on Saturday quoted by the Turkish private agency DHA.
“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. We take our stuff out again. His phone was also found,” said his agent Murat Uzunmehmet. The former FC Porto, Chelsea, Everton or Newcastle winger was 31 years old.
The native of Adda had arrived in Turkey in September 2022 to engage with Hatayspor and resided in the Renaissance, a luxury building with more than 800 inhabitants which collapsed during the earthquake which affected the south-west of the country. and northeastern Syria.
He almost left the club
Tragic irony of fate, Atsu should have been far from the epicenter of the earthquake. Taner Savut, sporting director of Hatayspor, made this chilling revelation to the Spanish daily As.
“Christian had spoken to the coach, Volkan Demirel, before the game against Gaziantep FK (Editor’s note: February 1) to explain his decision to leave, since he did not have the playing time he wanted (Editor’s note: 4 games in 2022-2023), says the Turkish leader. He was supposed to travel to France to see his family, but in the next game he played well and scored against Kasimpasa (Editor’s note: the goal of the 1-0 victory on February 5). He was very happy in the locker room, with his teammates, so he decided to cancel his plane ticket. He had a flight scheduled for 11 a.m., but he canceled the ticket. Then, at 4 am, the earthquake happened. It’s a tragedy… “
