Black Stars winger and Hatayspor forward, Christian Atsu did not have it all rosy to rise to the top.
Jogging from Madina to Achimota and to selling firewood, and scraps, the footballer said he has struggled in life.
In an interview with crimecheckghana.org during one of his holiday visits to the country, Atsu narrated his humble beginnings.
“I sold firewood, scraps to survive life in a wooden structure about four of us lodged,’ he said.
According to Atsu, he left his village in the Volta Region and moved to Accra together with his twin sister and aged mother to live with an elder brother.
“We were fishermen and did not care about school. Education back in the village was disorganized so we were not encouraged to enroll in school.
He said his brother had requested them to move to the city to enroll in school because he was of a school-going age but had not started his education yet.
“My brother lived at Madina in a chamber and hall wooden structure. We were four in the structure and I was 8-years-old,
“Gari was what we could afford because my brother was a lotto forecaster but he lied to us that he worked at Tema Port,” he added.
He did not allow the difficult situation crush his hopes, as he was brilliant in school. But he had a passion for soccer.
“Though I was bright in school, I loved football so I joined a minors team in the area,” he said.
Atsu said he became riffraff because of the difficulties at home.
“When I leave home in the morning, I come back in the evening looking for a means of survival,” he told crimecheckghana.org.
His football career began when he joined a local team, Jawara FC at Achimota which another brother of his introduced him to.
“That was when I had to jog from Madina to Achimota for training. Sometimes, when I am lucky my coach gifts me money, then I am saved the trekking,” he recounted.
From Jawara, he said he joined Peace FC.
Whiles playing for Peace FC, Christian Atsu participated in a justifier organized by Feyenoord Academy qualifying him for deals abroad.
“Somebody introduced me to a justifier because I did not know about it. Luckily after the tournament, I was selected to join the Academy,’ he recounted.
His stay at the Feyenoord Academy he said, eased his struggles.
His brother had moved from Madina to East Legon to live in an uncompleted building with their bed seated on the toilet hole of the house.
His mother, however, had been sent back to the village because of starvation.
“I came home to Madina only to find out that they had moved. I did not like the place so I had to go back to the Academy. But I told my brother I would be coming for money for upkeep and I left.
When he went back to the Academy, he started getting deals from international clubs.
“Sporting Lisbon made an offer but my managers did not accept it. Later other good deals followed,” he said.
His success story began.
Christian Atsu is caught under wreckage in Turkey after a deadly earthquake. He had scored for his team a day before the disaster.
Efforts are underway to rescue him though there are no traces of him.
