FC Twente of Holland new loan signing, Tyronne Ebuehi has admitted that he now has a golden opportunity to revive his career in the country of his birth and the lad from Benfica of Portugal says he is already relishing the immediate prospects that lie ahead of him.
This past weekend, Ebuehi completed a successful comeback after almost two years out of with injury, as he debuted for FC Twente in a 2-0 home win over Fortuna Sittard; but the fair-skinned right-back, who is on a season-long loan deal from Benfica of Portugal was replaced in the 73rd minute.
Ebuehi admitted afterwards that he feared at a point that his career was over when he suffered a long-term injury at Benfica two years ago, but he is now happy with his performance back in action with Twente and declared that he had to put a lot of energy into his first game of the new season in Holland.
While his days at Benfica were blighted by a nagging injury that spelt doom for him from his very first day in pre-season with the Primeira Liga club, Ebuehi is now looking on the bright side of life and enthused that he will recover from the long setback caused by the difficult knee injury.
He admitted that it was tough for him both mentally and physically not been able to play any meaningful game since he ruptured cruciate knee ligaments in July 2018, following his move to Benfica from ADO Den Haag of Holland, after starring for Nigeria the World Cup in Russia.
However, the 24-year-old right-back is now smiling once again, following his return to Holland last month and Ebuehi believes he will get his career back on tract at both national team and club levels, once he gets into full stride at Twente, who won the Dutch Eredivisie title in 2010.
Ebuehi told BBC Sport Africa: “It’s been a long period out and a hard time for me. It was difficult in the beginning I can’t lie about that. It’s changed me a lot. Not only as a player but as a person.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“I missed the entire 2018/19 season because of this difficult injury, but I’m happy that I’m fit now and I’m thankful that I am able to play the game that I love again. Twente have given me the chance to show that the last two years was an unfortunate bad luck. It would be convenient for some people to write me off but others know better.”
