A few days have passed since SV Werder fought their way to a 2-0 win against VfB Stuttgart. Deep in injury time, head coach Ole Werner made another double change and brought on Lee Buchanan and Dikeni Salifou. For the latter, it was his Bundesliga debut, and was ended by the referee not even a minute later with the full-time whistle. “It was a really amazing feeling. I had butterflies. I was not really thinking that I would be subbed on,“ confessed the happy debutant after the game.
Salifou stood on the sidelines for a few minutes before the change shortly before full time could actually take place. “The ball just didn’t go out. I was standing on the sideline for a few minutes. I was just there thinking: When’s the ball finally going to go out and I’m finally going to come on?” explained the debutant. “And then you are subbed on, feel the pitch for the first time, realise that and take a look at the board to check: Ok, it's really happening. That’s already an unbelievably good feeling.”
The 19-year-old has had to wait a long time for his debut in the top flight, which was also his first competitive appearance in the Werder first team. After joining in the summer, Salifou got injured in pre-season and missed the entirety of the first half of the season. Driven by his ambition, the midfielder fought his way back and was rewarded with his substitute appearance. “Obviously, it is pleasing to now be able to count myself as a Bundesliga player, regardless of how long you are on the pitch. It is a good feeling,” said Salifou, who was also praised by Clemens Fritz. “I said to him that he should keep at it. It is sometimes the case that you need a bit of patience, but you can see a continuous development with him, especially against the ball, with the dynamism and intensity that he brings – which are also his strengths,” explained Werder’s head of professional football and scouting. “It is nice that you can see his development, that he is training well and definitely deserved his debut But, he now has to keep at it. There is no reason to step off the gas at all."
The same opinion is held by the family of the Munich-born midfielder, who have helped him to stay grounded after his debut. “Be it friends or family, that said after the game: Lad, you’ve still not achieved anything yet, you weren’t on the pitch for more than 30 seconds. You still want to achieve more and to do that you’ll need to work hard,” explained Salifou, who knows well that he still “has to work hard every day”. This desire has not been missed by Fritz. “He wants to keep developing, he is unbelievably ambitious. It is nice to see that he is on the right track. I am convinced that we will get more playing time.”
But, you can’t allow yourself to forget that there are still a few players ahead of us that all have Bundesliga experience. At this point, I still don’t. That will take some time.Dikeni Salifou
But, Werder’s number 19 also needs to restrain his ambition sometimes. “In training you think that the coach has to bring you back in slowly and you want to play as quickly as possible,” explained Salifou, “But, you can’t allow yourself to forget that there are still a few players ahead of us that all have Bundesliga experience. At this point, I still don’t. Because of that, you need to always take a step back a bit and realise that it doesn’t happen so quickly. That will also take some time.” Still, he sees his move to Werder as the right step. “I had a really good feeling. I had to back myself, I knew what I was capable of and was 100% determined.” His debut has only re-confirmed this conviction once again. “Obviously, it is a good feeling and shows once again that it was the right step. I was sure from the beginning that it was the right decision, though.”
