A mentor of Christian Atsu who first discovered his footballing talents has revealed how he donated his first ever salary to a Ghanaian church.
Hayye Yartey in a recent interview addressed inflammatory claims from a Ghanaian pastor that Atsu wouldn’t have died if he only donated portions of his wealth to churches instead of poor people.
According to Yartey, Atsu’s philanthropy didn’t exclude churches, recalling how the late footballer donated his first-ever salary as a foreign professional to a Ghanaian church he wasn’t even a member of.
Yartey said the church was located behind the park where Atsu and his colleagues grew up playing football and he wanted to help it out after making it.
“He was a Christian. Very devoted to his religion, and his Bible. There is a church just behind us where he always wanted to pull his fellow players,” the Cheetah FC CEO told TV3.
“I remember when Christian went to Porto and succeeded in the trials, Porto went on to pay him 800 euros a month. So I received 800 euros [the same amount as his salary] through Western Union from Christian.
“I was so happy thinking he had sent me money but his call followed up and he said the 800 euros he had sent was equivalent to x amount of Ghana cedis which he ordered me to give to the church.”
"Atsu told me to give the money (€800) to the church."
Hayye Yartey has revealed that Christian Atsu committed his first Porto salary to the ⛪
An angel on earth ❤️#3Sports pic.twitter.com/WmgJ0EPIbR
— #3Sports (@3SportsGh) February 23, 2023
A Ghanaian pastor, Prophet Eliezer Oswald Awuyeh. recently claimed God didn’t save Christian Atsu because he does not donate any money to the church.
According to the preacher, Atsu wasted his money on the poor and needy and left the church starving – hence when he was in trouble God did nothing to help him.