Former Ghana coach Avram Grant has joined the tall list of persons paying glowing tribute to departed former Black Stars winger Christian Atsu Twasam.

Christian Atsu was found dead under the earthquake rubble in Hatay - Turkey after days of searching for him.

The Hatayspor winger had been missing for 12 days since the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and some parts of Syria on February 6.

Grant was Ghana's coach during the 2015 AFCON which was staged in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon as Avram's near-man tag struck again with Ghana finishing second as Ivory Coast won the tournament.

“He (Christian Atsu) was a lovely, lovely person always smiling, always happy,” Avram Grant told Sky Sports in an interview.

“He always has a positive attitude. He worked really hard in the training. One of my favourite players.”

Atsu also won the Goal of the Tournament with his outrageous strike against Guinea and was named Player of the Tournament.

His mortal remains were conveyed to Ghana on Sunday evening via Turkish airline with arrangements being made for interment and the funeral.

Christian Atsu was capped 65 times by Ghana and he scored ten goals as he played at several AFCON tournaments.