“I am afraid of you.”
These five word probably were the most remarkable thing of a fan meeting almost two years ago. Spoken were these words by Nelson Valdez. The striker came with great premature praises to Dortmund but was drawn into a personal crisis by struggeling BVB. Scenes from another time. The self confident and more and more scoring Nelson Valdez a few weeks ago extended his contract until 2012.
What happend in the meantime that helped him getting rid of his fears?
Flashback: When Valdez came to Dortmund the pressure on the, at that time, only 22 year old was high.. Almost five Million Euro were transfered into Werder Bremen's account, for Valdez who at that time was no starter in Bremen. A lot of money for the just recovering BVB. And so it all added it up. The club praised him to be to coming top scorer, Valdez himself made the mistake to publically promise a lot of goals.
But season 2006/2007 turned into a desaster for Borussia. Bert van Marwijk left, Jürgen Röber came, Röber left and Thomas Doll came. And between all of them Ottmar Hitzfeld, Felix Magath and Thomas von Heesen where somewhat present. Borussia got more and more drawn into the relegation struggle and took Nelson Valdez with it. There was great pressure on the young striker who couldn't stand all frustration and the high expectations thrown onto him. Nelson Valdez and the fact that he didn't score became the sign of Borussias crisis.
That the frustration got on him is understandable, but didn't do any good. The fans on this fan meeting ensured him that they stood behind him, but everyone noticed that Valdez was very, very uncertain.
It took a long time until Valdez managed to get rid of his uncertainty. During the 2007/2008 season he was known for great commitment, but all the running often appeared to be over motivated and goals were still missing.
With Jürgen Klopp the courage returned to Valdez, a striker who fits to Klopps striker-profile like no other in the Bundesliga. Today he is not only running like hell, all the running appears to finally have sense today and it brings the team forward.
The reward: Affection by the fans. Was this unthinkable in his first season there already was a gentle approach towards the end of his sophomore year, because fighting and commitment has always been rewarded by the audience in Dortmund, only lots of missed chances threw small shadows on him.
In the last season he managed to play himself more and more into the hearts of the supporters. The ironic - lovingly chat "Hey, lieber Nelson, Neslon Valdez: Schieß uns bitte in die Champions League (in english: Hey, Nelson, Nelson Valdez: Please shoot us into the Champions League)" is evidence of that.
In the way he acts on the pitch he is following the footsteps of Flemming Povlsen. Povlsen also didn't score to much but constantly worked hard on the pich. Valdez is on track to follow him and earn a place in the hearts of the fans.
Since April he has two more years to do so. He extended his treaty until 2012 and that is, looking at his current performances, good news.
And it doesn't have to be the Champions League, just a few more goals would be fine.
