VfL Bochum got off to a horror start in the Bundesliga, losing 5-0 in Stuttgart, but things went much better for a former Bochum player.

There is hardly any expert in Dutch football who doubts that Vangelis Pavlidis is one of the best strikers in the Eredivisie.

Former international Pierre van Hooijdonk, who works for broadcaster NOS, said of the AZ Alkmaar attacker back in February 2023: “He’s the best striker in the league.” He scored in double figures in each of the past four seasons.

The 24-year-old also got off to a strong start this season: Two games, three goals and one assist. Not only does Pavlidis lead the scoring charts, he is also the league’s top scorer. On Sunday afternoon, the Alkmaar striker became the acclaimed match-winner.

In the away match in Waalwijk, the Dutch top club did not perform well at first and fell behind 0:1 due to a penalty. After AZ coach Pascal Jansen made two changes at the half-time break, the favourites played much more pressurefully and with more drive towards the opponent’s goal.

The reward: Pavlidis scored in the 54th minute to make it 1-1, and only five minutes later Dani de Wit scored to make it 2-1 for Alkmaar. The game remained exciting and competitive – until Pavlidis scored his personal brace. In the 79th minute, the striker again showed his goal-scoring qualities and gave Waalwijk keeper Etienne Vaessen no chance from close range. With this goal Pavlidis pushed his team to the top of the table after two match days.

Pavlidis was trained in youth at VfL Bochum

Not only in the league, but also internationally, things are going well for Alkmaar and the ex-Bochum player. AZ won against FC Sanrta Coloma (1-0, 2-0) in the Conference League qualifiers and will now face Brann Bergen from Norway in the next round (24 August and 31 August). Then the Dutch will also rely on the top form of their top player again.

In 2015, Vangelis Pavlidis moved to the youth department of VfL Bochum and played his way through all the teams at Castroper Straße, from the U17s to the professionals. The Greek was a great talent and was offered a professional contract, but was unable to assert himself at the time and only made four competitive appearances over 129 minutes. In the meantime, the 1.86-metre man is worth an impressive 14 million euros (source: transfermarkt.de) and thus considerably more than every single player in the Bochum squad…