English Premier League side Bournemouth have sent their heartfelt condolence to the family and friends of their former winger Christian Atsu Twasam who tragically passed on during the Turkey earthquake disaster.

The 31-year-old Ghanaian winger spent the first six months of the 2015/16 season on loan at the then newly-promoted Premier League side making just two appearances before his loan deal was cut short by his parent club Chelsea.

"We are saddened to learn of the passing of Christian Atsu. The thoughts of everyone at the club are with his family and friends at this awful time" Bournemouth Tweeted.

Atsu started his footballing journey at Feyenoord now WAFA in Ghana before joining Cheetah FC in Kasoa before going on to play for the likes of Porto, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle, and Bournemouth among others.

"It is with enormous sadness that Chelsea Football Club receives the news that Christian Atsu is confirmed as one of the many victims of the dreadful earthquake in Turkey and Syria" the English side wrote on their website.

At the tender age of 17 years, the Ghanaian winger joined Portuguese side FC Porto in 2011 but was sent out on loan at Rio Ave for the 2011/2012 season where he scored six goals in 30 appearances.

He made a return to parent club FC Porto the following season where he scored once in 29 matches for Porto before leaving to join English Premier League against Chelsea in 2013 on a five-year contract.

At Chelsea, he went on several loan spells and never played any competitive game for the club with his first being a very successful spell at Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem where he scored five goals in 30 matches and was named the Player of the season for the Dutch side.

Atsu had loan spells at Everton, Bournemouth, and Newcastle from Chelsea before sealing a permanent move to Newcastle United in the 2016/17 season as he helped the club secure promotion back to the English Premier League.

At the Magpies, he spent four seasons there before leaving as a free agent in the 2020/21 season to join Saudi side Al Raed.

After just eight matches, he left the Saudi side and returned to Hatayspor where he played just four matches and scored his goal on 5th February the Sunday before the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck which claimed the life of Christian Atsu.

He was survived by his wife Marie-Claire Rupio and three children.