St Johnstone striker, Uche Ikpeazu, has been forced to start his rehab “from scratch”, head coach, Simo Valakari, has revealed.
The former Hearts man was Craig Levein’s first summer signing back six months ago but has yet to be seen in a Saints shirt, after needing a knee operation during the close-season.
Ikpeazu has endured a number of setbacks following surgery, the most recent of which was a comeback reset a fortnight ago.
Valakari is confident, however, that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the 29-year-old at long last.
“It is difficult for Uche,” said the McDiarmid Park boss.
“I can only talk about the time I have been here, but he needed to start again, everything from scratch, two weeks ago.
“It was like after an operation again.
“But now he is trying to build strength in the leg, to get it to the stage where he can start full training.
“If you think about it, once he starts training again, that is when we start thinking about how long it takes to get fitness back.
“It’s unfortunate, especially for the player – for him it’s very frustrating – but at the same time he is very positive.
“He knows his body well and he now feels like the recovery has really started.”
‘Different kind of pain’
Valakari added: “Sometimes, what can happen is, after you have an operation, you come back and you just feel that something isn’t right.
“Then you need maybe to take a couple of steps back, maybe start again, then eventually you feel that, even though there is maybe still pain, it is a different kind of pain.
“He now feels like that. And that’s a very encouraging sign because now it will start coming forward.
“Uche will be like a new signing for us in January. I have told him he will be this for us.”
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