St Johnstone head coach, Simo Valakari, has reassured striker, Uche Ikpeazu, that he will have a big part to play in the Perth club’s Premiership season.
And to make sure the summer signing doesn’t carry the burden of trying to rush himself back into first team contention, the McDiarmid Park boss has given him a January return date target.
Valakari could sense Ikpeazu’s “pain” at not being able to help the Saints cause since injuring his knee after becoming Craig Levein’s first close-season recruit.
And he has stressed the need for patience as the former Hearts man steps up his recuperation over the next few weeks.
“He’s running but it’s inevitable that his body is not as good as it should be after this amount of time out,” said Valakari.
“He’ll start to feel things.
“It’s a long road and Uche needs to be very patient.
“Treatment, rehab and nature will heal it. No matter how much you want to be back, it takes time.
“It’s at these moments as a coach that you see the pain inside a player.
“He came here to help the team.
“There’s nothing I can do to help him come back quicker but I wanted to let him know that he will be like our first signing in January.
“If he’s back earlier than that, great.
“Hopefully it takes a weight off his shoulders.
“He’s not been able to give anything to the previous manager or the club but he has been long enough in the business to know how these things can go.”
Target man benefits
Valakari is looking forward to being able to utilise the physical attributes Ikpeazu will bring to his team.
“We all know what type of player he can be,” said the Finn.
“When he comes back he will bring a new dimension to our attack.
“We can play in a different way with Uche in the team. Others can play off him.
“I like to have the option of playing with a so-called target man.
“You can bounce passes off one and get the runners going.
“There have been times in games when I could see how we would have been able to use Uche but there’s no point getting frustrated, as a manager, about not having a player available.
“You work with the players you have.”
Valakari added: “I felt it was important that we as a club and me as a manager show that we support him, that we want and need him back but at the same time, we understand the situation.
“I believe that if you are calm in your head it can help you in your rehab.
“Then maybe he will be back sooner.”
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