"It's not often you almost die."

Dapo Mebude was being billed as one of the next big things in Scottish football, had risen through the Rangers youth ranks alongside Billy Gilmour and Nathan Patterson and had wowed Steven Gerrard.

But then disaster happened.

"Something hit my tyre," the 23-year-old forward, now at Dunfermline, recalled. "My car just spun off the road. Then I hit a tree.

"The next week, I woke up. My family was there. My girlfriend was there, my daughter was there."

The car crash that almost ended Mebude's young life happened in January of this year. At the time, he was playing for Belgian club Oostende. The accident happened en route to a match.

The injuries were serious. He required surgery and lay in a hospital bed unconscious for five days.

"Because I am so close to my family, I felt worse for them," Mebude told BBC Scotland. "They had to live it every day. They were coming in and out of the hospital to see if I was able to wake up.

"I broke my ribs and I had a contusion, which is like bruising around my heart. When I woke up, they were telling me I was lucky to be alive.

"It was a terrible experience, but it brought me closer to everyone as well. My family, my girlfriend, my daughter - they really played a big part in helping me get out of it."

Mebude was born and grew up in London. At the age of 10, his family made the move to Glasgow, where his football talent was spotted early.

Growing up in Govan, he started training with Rangers and became part of the Scottish FA performance group.

As a boyhood Liverpool fan who modelled his game on England winger Raheem Sterling, he could barely believe his luck when Anfield great Steven Gerrard strode through the door as manager at Ibrox.

"Going through the age groups, I was doing well," Mebude said. "I would always play a couple of years up.

"In my second year full-time, I got a game for the under-20s. I scored a hat-trick off the bench.

"Steven Gerrard had just come in at the time. He was at the game and the next day I trained with the first team. It was surreal."

Gerrard would give Mebude his first-team debut with Rangers.

However, it was always going to be tough for the teenager to force his way ahead of the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe in the pecking order.

A loan spell at Queen of the South was followed by a move to Watford and then a further loan spell with Wimbledon before the move to Belgium.

Since surviving the wreckage on the roadside, Mebude's mission has been all about rebuilding his career.

Again, his family would play a part. He trained together with younger brother Dire, the Scotland Under-21 forward currently with Westerlo, during the summer.

The wider football family would also help him back into the game.

"I was training at Livingston for a bit," Mebude said. "My friend Stephen Kelly plays there and we played together at Rangers. He knew my situation.

"He spoke to the manager and said, 'Do you want to come in and train?' The manager, David Martindale, was really good with me, letting me in to keep fit.

"We actually had a friendly with Dunfermline and I played in it. I was at home one day and my agent texted me to say Dunfermline were speaking with him and I should come in.

"I felt at home straight away. I have got a good friendly group here."

Mebude will be hoping to make his latest Pars appearance when BBC Scotland cameras visit East End Park for the visit of Scottish Championship leaders Falkirk on Friday.

"I hope the club can see the best of me because it was probably difficult for a lot of people to take the risk after what I have been through this year," Mebude added.

"They have obviously put a lot of faith in me and I just want to show the fans and the club and the gaffer what it means to me to play for the club."