Abdul Hayye Yartey, the former manager of Christian Atsu, has described the deceased as an angel on earth considering the way he does things.
The 31-year was confirmed dead in the early hours of Saturday morning after his body was pulled out of the rubble following Turkey's devastating earthquake which has claimed many lives.
“For me, I will describe Christian as an angel on earth. Christian was a Christian, the way he does his things sometimes you don’t believe it but I think we need to remember Christian for his generosity, how humble he was, how determine he was”
“But I think this should inspire footballers what I am going to say, I remember the first day when he had to take the first flight to FC Porto, I was at this airport to see him off and when he sat on the plane, he tested me saying that, Mr Yartey I really appreciate you, I’m not going to return, I am going to succeed on this trials, it was left with 10 days for the January window to be over and he said he was going succeed and make me proud, he was going to play football to the highest level and here we are, he succeeded and is being celebrated all over the world”
Atsu had been trapped under rubble for over 11 days before his passing, with the earthquake claiming the lives of over 45,000 people.
The Ghanaian had recently scored his first goal for Hatayaspor just hours before the natural disaster struck.
During his career, Atsu played 65 matches for Ghana, scoring nine goals. Two of his most famous goals came in the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Egypt and in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, quarter-finals clash against Guinea, where he scored an absolutely breathtaking goal.
Atsu's mortal remains arrived in Ghana on Sunday evening ahead of preparations for his burial.