After failing to impress in a recent friendly defeat to 1. FC Nürnberg, it looks like Hauke Wahl may have to wait a while for his chance to come.
The young centre-back joined FC Ingolstadt 04 in the summer and now faces major competition for a place in the starting eleven.
Having beat off several clubs to secure his signature, it is clear that Wahl has plenty of potential and a big future ahead of him.
Speaking to kicker, the former SC Paderborn 07 and Holstein Kiel stopper told of his recent disappointment but remained positive of what is ahead.
Keeping confident and staying positive
"That's the deal." Wahl was matter of fact in relation to the arrival of Marcel Tisserand from AS Monaco, adding another player to the list he is trying to climb.
"I need patience, that was clear from the start. It was nice to be able to play in the DFB-Pokal," he said. After his rapid rise up the divisions, he looked back with a sense of realism, "I can't forget that a year ago, I moved from from the 3. Liga to the 2. Bundesliga."
An unusual position to be in
After not getting the nod in his home town on Saturday, Wahl was honest as to how he felt, "Naturally, I would have liked to play in Hamburg. Naturally, I was disappointed."
However, he bounced back quickly: "30 seconds later, you must get on with things and do everything to help the team as best possible." The 22-year-old continued, "It was still nice, my family were at the hotel the day before the game, all my friends were in the stadium. Of course, I would've wanted a win, but everything else was okay."
Despite being in the unusual position of not starting, Wahl recognises that it is "a change" but believes that he will "get better and better" and has the potential to do so.