Nigerian defender reveals mental battle after knee injury

Super Eagles defender, Tyronne Ebuehi has said that he is ready hit the road running in the Eredivisie after a disappointing two years that saw him get loaned from Benfica.

The defender disclosed he was able to scale the hurdles thanks to God, his mental strength and family.

Ebuehi recently joined FC Twente on a season-long loan deal from Benfica after two challenging years in Portugal.

The Nigerian international joined Benfica shortly after the 2018 World Cup on a five-year deal. However, he suffered a knee injury in pre-season that ruled him out of the whole campaign, Soccernet.ng said.

Such injury can cause mental strain on a player, and for Ebuehi, it was no different. Speaking in an interview with the BBC, the former Ado Den Haag star revealed he had to be mentally strong to get through those difficult moments.

“It’s been a long period out and a hard time for me,” Ebuehi told BBC Sport Africa.

“Of course, questions like ‘could this be the end?’ can pop up from time to time.

“You sometimes hear that with this type of major injuries players never return to the same level they were before the injury.

“It was difficult in the beginning I can’t lie about that,” he admitted.

“To be away from the only country you have ever known, where you’re born and away from your family and friends. You feel alone knowing it was just no longer possible for them to just pass by,” according to Soccernet.ng

“It’s changed me a lot. Not only as a player but as a person.

“Away in another country being alone. Sometimes it’s like an unseen tears of frustration because of the mental pain.

“Like I always tell my family and friends now, that I’m thankful to God for this type of hard lessons sometimes in life.

But despite the struggles, Ebuehi revealed the experience taught him a lot of things about life.

“It really made me aware of lot of things, like how to take care of my body now. How things can happen in football, how to deal with them. I’m thankful for the lessons that God gave me.

“Going forward in my career, I know how to take care of myself and what’s good for me, how to handle any future injuries, hopefully, it will not happen.

The Nigerian international has not played first-team football in almost two years, but he is hoping for a fresh start with Twente in the new Eredivisie season, which kicks off this weekend.