Ghana international forward Christian Atsuo, who played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, has died in the earthquake in Turkey. He was 31 years old.
Atsu’s manager said on Saturday that search teams found Atsu’s body in the ruins of the 12-story building where he lived in Hatay province’s Antakya city.
“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. At the moment, their belongings are still being removed,” manager Murat Uzunmehmet told the private news agency DHA.
Atsu joined Turkish club Hatayspor in September and played for his new team Kasımpa S.K. Scored the winning goal in a league game at home on 5 February, just hours before the pre-dawn earthquake of 6 February.
Antakya, the city where Hatayspor is located, was the most affected by the earthquake in the southern region of Turkey.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria exceeded 43,000 on Friday.
Hatayspor said that Atsu’s body was being brought back to Ghana. “There are no words to express our grief,” the club tweeted.
There were reports a day after the earthquake that Atsu had been rescued, but after initially announcing that Atsu was alive and on his way to the hospital, later said that reports of a successful rescue, heartbreaking, were wrong and the player was still missing. It also said that the club’s sporting director Taner Sawat was still missing. Savat has not been found yet.
The contractor of the 12-story Ronsens Residences building – where Atsu and Savut lived – was detained at Istanbul airport a week ago, apparently trying to leave the country.
Atsu’s agent, Nana Sechere, along with members of Atsu’s family went to Turkey in an attempt to find him, in the hope that he might be alive among the rubble. Stecher had urged the authorities and Hattaspor officials to intensify their efforts in the search for Atsu and Sawat.
In a statement on Tuesday, Sechere said rescuers were able to locate the exact location of the room in Atsu’s collapsed apartment building a week after the devastating earthquake but found only two pairs of shoes.
Sechere confirmed on Saturday that Atsu’s body had been found. He posted a message on Twitter: “My deepest condolences are with his family and loved ones.”
Atsu has played over 60 times for Ghana and made his debut in 2012 as a 20-year-old. He was part of the Ghana squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and starred at the 2015 African Cup of Nations, scoring two goals to help Ghana reach the final, where they lost to Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout.
He was named player of the tournament in that African Cup.
Atsu was signed by Chelsea in 2013, but his time there was limited to appearances in exhibition games and he was sent out on loan to various clubs over the next four years. The winger joined Newcastle on loan in 2016 and was part of the team that won promotion to the Premier League in the 2016–17 season.
He signed a permanent deal with Newcastle in 2017 and spent four years there. The club said on Saturday it was “deeply saddened” by Atsu’s death.
“A talented player and a special person, he will always be missed by our players, staff, and supporters,” Newcastle tweeted.
The Ghana Football Association said: “We would like to express our deepest condolences to his wife and children, family, loved ones, and the football community.”
Atsu joined Hatayspor last year after playing for a short time in Saudi Arabia.
Ibrahim Kwarteng, a friend of Etsu’s in Ghana, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he knew the player as someone who helped people in his West African country as much as possible.
Kwarteng said Kwarteng runs an organization that helps people convicted of minor crimes get jobs and put their lives back together after being released from prison, and that Atsu was its biggest benefactor. Kwarteng said Atsu had also begun construction of an orphanage in Ghana and was helping to fund a new breast cancer screening center.