Eddie Howe and Allan Saint-Maximin have paid tribute to former Newcastle United player Christian Atsu after the 31-year-old died during the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Atsu had been missing after the tragic earthquakes on February 6. His body has since been discovered, with the ex-Newcastle and Chelsea star sadly confirmed dead on Saturday morning.
Speaking ahead of the Magpies game against Liverpool, Saint-Maximin paid his respects to Atsu with a touching tribute.
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"It is a very sad day for Newcastle and for all the players as well because most of the players know him well," Saint-Maximin told Sky Sports. "He was a great guy, I had many conversations with him and a very nice time with him, and to see that is very painful. Some things are still too difficult to talk about at the moment for me, but for sure I will never forget that guy and I will fight for him.
"It’s hard to explain [what kind of a person he was], I’m not gonna lie, I will tell you the truth, I’ve never seen a guy like that, when I just arrived in Newcastle. Even if we played in the same position he was always giving me some advice.
"Always a very nice guy, always joking and smiling everyday even when he played or didn’t play, so he was a great person so that’s why it’s sad news for me. I will try to do my best to think about that and take that to do the best game as possible."
Howe also took the time to reflect on the news and although the Newcastle manager never coached Atsu, he revealed just how big an impact the former Magpie had on the dressing room.
"It’s a real tragedy for Christian and his family," Howe said. "I woke up today to the news as everyone else did, and I was truly devastated for him and everyone that knew him.
There are a lot of players in our dressing room that worked with him for a couple of years, and I’ve made reference to that before the game [vs Liverpool] speaking to the players - I felt that it was something that we needed to do.
"We’ll pay tribute to him today as a club with a minute silence and our thoughts are with him. I think it’s a case of just understanding what a tragedy it is, giving him our thoughts and prayers, and that to his family as well. We want to support them in this moment."
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