Former home-based Eagles invitee, Emeka Friday Eze has revealed secrets of how he survived several stormy years while trying to get his career started outside the shores of Nigeria.
Sports247.ng reports that it all began for the Lagos-born rampaging attacker in 2013, when he got a deal that took him from a youth club to Cameroon, in search of the golden fleece.
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However, things did not work out as planned, and Eze ended up with a lower division side in the region of Mbanga, after which he joined another midstream team, Oxygene de Mfou in 2014, before getting an opportunity in the top-flight with Aigle Royale Menoua in 2016 and later on the then champions, UMS Loum.
Sadly, Eze was almost abandoned at a point of his sojourn in Cameroon, but he got his career back on track when an opening for trials came his way in Estonia, from where he moved to Finland in 2017.
His big breakthrough eventually came when he joined RoPS of Finland, following which a couple of seasons with the top division outfit opened him up for a deal at Sturm Graz of Austria in the same year, from where he moved to Turkey in 2021.
His move to Turkey turned into the most fruitful spell of his chequered career, as Eze has since gained flourishing stints with five different clubs in the Land of The Ottoman.
Emeka Eze, who played for Adanaspor, Keclorengucu, Eyupspor and Istanbulspor before moving to his present base at Pendikspor, admitted that his trajectory has been stormy, but pointed out how sheer determination, focus, contentment and zeal saw him through.
He stated, “I was born as a professional footballer, and I always knew that I was going to make it. I started playing in the street with bare feet. A coach approached me and said, ‘You are a good player. I will take you to my club.’ At that time, I just wanted to play, and I was ready to go anywhere. I stayed focused even when the academy abandoned us … no food, no water.”
Eze admitted it was a torrid experience he went through in Cameroon, while the ascent into Estonia and Finland were also not as smooth as he had expected them to be, until Sturm Graz stepped into the picture.
He recalled, “There was this club, Sturm Graz in Austria, that wanted me. It was a good step for me, and that’s where I first saw a huge crowd on another level. I did not care about the money. I just wanted to play and prove myself.
“There’s an expression that says, ‘When oil is on your head, anywhere you put your leg is okay.’ The feeling was great, and I said to myself that this was the beginning.”
Incidentally, Eze’s move to Pendikspor made it three Turkish clubs he would play for in 2013, but unlike the quickfire stints he had at Eyupspor and Istanbulspor within that same year, he has since settled down and once again hitting goals as if they are going out of fashion.
