Uche Ikpeazu has 耐えるd 堅い times in the football wilderness but the devout Christian 明らかにする／漏らすs how a 調書をとる／予約する by Drogba and Hearts 供給するd answer to his 祈りs

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It is a 事柄 of 約束. It is a 証言 to the endurance and malleability of this trait that for Uche Ikpeazu its strength was 示す not on the road to Damascus in the 早期に years of AD but in a U-turn on an M-way to Stevenage in 2016.

The Hearts striker stretches to his 十分な 6ft 3ins in a room at Tynecastle and tells his tale with a 屈服する to the work of Gianfranco Zola and with 予定 deference to the 調書をとる／予約するs of Didier and Zlatan.

His Christian 約束 is a serious 事柄 for Ikpeazu. 'I got closer to Him in 堅い times,' he says of his 関係 with God. But he is no sanctimonious whiner.?

Uche Ikpeazu's Christian 約束 is a serious 事柄, but he is no sanctimonious whiner

'I have been in adversity,' he says. 'But I am a happy guy. I love where I am now.'

His presence at Hearts is solid, 高度に 明白な and successful. His past, though, is 示すd with the 決まりきった仕事 tr ials that …を伴って a childhood in Wembley complemented by the '残虐な' realities that can lay 包囲 to 約束 in football.

At 23, Ikpeazu has had more clubs than a 特に belligerent caveman. He was a schoolboy at Queens Park 特別奇襲隊員s and a 訓練生 at Reading. He was 調印するd by Watford. He was sent on 貸付金 to Didcot Town, 乗組員 Alexandra, Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale and Blackpool. He was 救助（する）d at Cambridge 部隊d. He 栄えるs at Hearts.

His football 旅行 has all the hallmarks of a 転換 from the road to the 最高の，を越す into an unforgiving wilderness. 'I have been in positions where I 港／避難所't 存在 getting paid, where I 港／避難所't had a club. I have been 激しく揺する 底（に届く）. So the only way was up,' he says.

It is necessary to chart the downfall before relating the rise. Ikpeazu, son of a Nigerian father and Ugandan mother, was raised in Wembley.

'I had a decent しつけ in a 堅い area,' he says. 'But my parents had to work, so I had to get a few trains to get to QPR and more when I went to Reading. I was on my own a lot but that was all 権利. I was good at an 早期に age, 得点する／非難する／２０d a lot of goals.'

This brought him to the attention of Watford, who 調印するd Ikpeazu at 18 before he had even broken into the Reading first team.

'Zola was the 経営者／支配人 and having a 指名する like that knocking at your door makes your mind up,' he says. 'The chance to work with him was 抱擁する. I couldn't turn it 負かす／撃墜する.

Ikpeazu, son of a Nigerian father and Ugandan mother, was raised in Wembley

'I should have stayed at Reading, though. I say this without 悔いる. What is past is past. But I was in the 青年 team at Reading and then went to train with the first team at Watford. I wasn't ready.

'There were some 広大な／多数の／重要な things that I still carry with me, though. Gianfranco helped me a lot and I was 押し進めるing to get a game when he was 解雇（する）d.

'He would point out things that I didn't understand until later in my career. He told me: 'You have the ability to do 井戸／弁護士席. But you need to read 調書をとる／予約するs, watch a lot of football and watch what you eat'.'

Ikpeazu watched football, he is careful with his diet, cooking for himself in the flat where he lives 近づく Tynecastle. 'I 熟考する／考慮する games on the television because they give you an understanding of what you should do. I am strict about what I eat. I want to be lean because I am a big guy and don't want to be carrying too much 負わせる,' he says.

The 調書をとる／予約するs gave him another type of strength. 'I read autobiographies of people who have come through a lot. I read both Didier Drogba's and Zlatan's (Ibrahimovic) 調書をとる／予約するs. Drogba 奮起させるd me. Lo ok at everything he has been through.

'I read it and thought that I had been through 堅い times too. You are sent out on 貸付金 to places that you don't know and into dressing rooms where you don't know anybody. It can be 堅い.

'At Watford in my last year, I was training myself. I was coming off a bad （一定の）期間 and took a 支払う／賃金 削減（する）. They 手配中の，お尋ね者 rid of me, which is fair enough. But I 設立する out I was 解放（する）d when I was watching Sky Sports news. Football is 残虐な. I was proper sad and angry. I was thinking: 'Where do I go from here?'

The 23-year-old tells his tale with a 屈服する to the work of Gianfranco Zola and Didier Drogba

The answer （機の）カム suddenly. 'I believed in myself. I got that from the Drogba 調書をとる／予約する. I knew it wasn't over. I believed I was good enough to turn this around,' he says.

'But it was the lowest point in my life. I was in the car with my スパイ／執行官 on my way to Stevenage. No league club seemed to want me. Then the phone rang and we did a U-turn.'

The call was from Shaun Derry, 経営者／支配人 of Cambridge 部隊d.

'God b いっそう少なく that guy. He gave me a chance. He said he had been impressed with me when I played against him when I was at 乗組員. I went to Cambridge, did 井戸／弁護士席, 得点する／非難する／２０d goals. Everything clicked.'

He does not forget the bad times but believes they have made him who he is now.

'I （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 myself up when it was not going 井戸／弁護士席 because I was wanting to do better. But I had my 約束 in God. I pray to Him every day and became closer to Him when times were 堅い,' he says. 'This gave me 約束 in myself. I know I am a good player. I know I have the ability to 得点する／非難する／２０ goals. I can 停止する the ball.

'I look from where I have come from to where I am now and think I must have something. I made mistakes, many mistakes. But it all made me stronger.

'I 証明するd myself at Cambridge over two seasons. I had no choice but to work hard. I didn't see it as a 契約. I saw it as a career lifeline.

'I told myself: 'This is your last chance. Buckle up and go for it'. I had been about 上級の teams since I was 18, so I was experienced. I was 堅い mentally. I had to be.'

He was also ambitious. He turned 負かす／撃墜する a new 契約 at Cambridge and other suitors to 調印する for Hearts.

'You know what it is to be loved? Shaun Derry showed me that but so did Craig Levein,' he says of the Hearts 経営者／支配人. 'He 手配中の，お尋ね者 me here. There were other clubs 利益／興味d but Hearts really 手配中の，お尋ね者 me.

'He showed me clips of how he could 改善する me. It 肉親，親類d of touched me.

'I told my mum: 'People have 裁判官d me, some have discarded me, but I have a 経営者／支配人 here who has coached the highest level and says he wants me. I am going to go'.'

The 決定／判定勝ち（する） was 増強するd in typical Ikpeazu style. 'I prayed on it and it felt 権利. The lesson for me is that going through adversity doesn't mean anything much because you can always bounce 支援する. I want to 実験（する） myself その上の.'

His 約束?was 示す not on the road to Damascus but in a U-turn on an M-way

回復するd from a foot 傷害, Ikpeazu looks 始める，決める to be given that 適切な時期 at Ibrox tomorrow.

He looks その上の into the 未来 to find adventures that may give 追加するd meaning to his life.

'I am 利益／興味d in 動機づけるing youngsters, 特に those from backgrounds such as 地雷,' he says. 'I want to go 支援する to Wembley and maybe help there. I would also like to build a football 学院 in Nigeria or Uganda.

'I have visited there with my parents. There is true adversity in those places and I would like to help there in any way.

'I feel a very strong 関係 with Africa and the people. It is important to me. You have to know where you have come from.'

It is important, too, to know where one is going.

'I have a direction,' he says. 'I knew Hearts were a big club but didn't realise how big until I （機の）カム here and saw th e stadium. It has been amazing for me.'

He has hymns of 賞賛する and his 禁止（する）d of 信奉者s who have christened themselves the Uche ギャング（団）. 'Yes, it's been a good start, but only that,' he says, before making a prophecy.

'There's more to come,' he says 静かに, without bombast.

It is difficult not to believe him. It is, after all, a 事柄 of 約束.