Ex-Chelsea forward ‘trapped under rubble’ during devastating earthquake in Turkey: Reports

Former Chelsea winger Christian Atsu is reportedly 'trapped under rubble' following the recent earthquake that has hit Turkey and Syria.

The Ghanaian forward is currently signed with Turkish club side Hatayspor following his move from Saudi Arabian side Al-Raed in 2022.

His club side are currently based in the region of Kahramanmara. It happens to be one of the areas that have been hit the most by the devastating earthquake.

The sad incident is said to have left well over 1000 people dead in both Turkey and Syria at the time of this report, as confirmed by BBC.

It has also been predicted that the death toll could rise to 10,000 after two earthquakes hit both countries. The first was a 7.8 magnitude and the second a 7.5 magnitude earthquake which struck in the early hours of Monday morning (February 6).

Aside from the former Chelsea player, it is also reported that Hatayspor's sporting director Taner Savut is currently trapped under rubble.

🚨🇹🇷 Hatayspor forward Cristian Atsu and director Taner Savut have been left under the rubble after the earthquake in Türkiye.

Search and rescue teams are looking them now, reports @yagosabuncuoglu. https://t.co/S2IqRo46PK

At the moment, search-and-rescue operatives are currently working to try and find both Atsu and Savut of Hatayspor.

It comes at a very sad time for the Turkish club, who secured a 1-0 home win against Kasimpasa yesterday (February 5).

The only goal of the game, incidentally, was scored by Atsu, who converted a free kick deep into stoppage time.

@eurofootcom @yagosabuncuoglu Yesterday he scored a last-minute goal to give his team the win. Life is very difficult..💔

https://t.co/J0yJVXK6f0

The Ghana international spent four years with Premier League club side Chelsea from 2013 to 2017. During that period, he had loan spells at the likes of Vitesse Arnhem, Everton, Newcastle United, Bournemouth, and Malaga.

He then joined Newcastle permanently in 2017 before moving to Al-Raed in 2021.

Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga speaks on new signing Benoit Badiashile

Kepa Arrizabalaga has expressed his delight at the recent performances of teammate Benoit Badiashile, who joined the Blues last month.

The defender joined the Blues from French club Monaco during the recently concluded January transfer window. He was among a host of first-team players signed by the Blues on a massive winter signing spree.

Badiashile has had a decent start to life at Chelsea and has formed a solid partnership with veteran defender Thiago Silva.

Speaking during an interview as seen in Football London, Kepa Arrizabalaga said,

“He is a really good guy. Very calm, big quality with the ball, and strong in the air. He is having a great impact in the team and hopefully, we can still go like this [keeping clean sheets]. It’s the job of everybody, we are all trying to impress and defend well. So it is good work from the whole team."

Badiashile has helped Chelsea keep three clean sheets in his previous three starts.