Düsseldorf Fortuna had many hopes with the signings of  Bernard Tekpetey, Lewis Baker and Nana Ampomah. They are yet to prove anything closer to what their reputation and talent suggest, but sports director Lutz Pfannenstiel has called for patience.

It is too early for the bad word "wrong shopping". Too early. There are many examples in international football that it can sometimes take months for a newly hired professional to really gain a foothold and become the reinforcement that a club  has hoped for.

Fortuna even delivers some of them itself: Benito Raman and Dodi Lukebakio, who each scored ten goals in relegation last season, took a lot of  time before they started delivering - Raman even in his second year, before he started producing the goods that was after gaining promotion.

And there was also a Robbie Kruse here: The Australian striker never got going in his first Fortuna season in 2011/12, only made eleven mostly short appearances and scored no goals. A year later and one league higher, there were 30 Bundesliga games, four goals and nine assists.

Examples that should encourage Lewis Baker, Bernard Tekpetey and Nana Ampomah. These three were probably the most hopeful of Fortuna's additions: Tekpetey had played an outstanding second division season at SC Paderborn and had contributed significantly to the surprising rise of East Westphalia. At Fortuna, he has not build on that, but sports director Lutz Pfannenstiel has patience: "Bernie works hard on himself, in every training session."

Tekpetey's Ghanaian compatriot Ampomah was preceded by a promising reputation that he had earned through his strong performance in Belgium. "But there is a big difference between the Belgian league and the Bundesliga," explains Pfannenstiel. “Nana was the star of a small club there, here he has to get used to the fact that he has a lot more defensive tasks to do. He is internalizing it more and more. "

In addition, the two pretty much occupy the positions that had become vacant due to the departures of Raman and Lukebakio in the direction of Schalke and Berlin. Comparisons with the two goal scorers from the previous season are likely. But footballers cannot be compared one-to-one - at most in the point that they often need some time to get used to. See Lewis Baker. The Englishman borrowed from Chelsea celebrated a very strong league premiere in the 3-1 win in Bremen, but after that it was no longer for the 24-year-old.

Like the two Ghanaians, the Briton has a hard time nibbling on the comparison with a predecessor. Kevin Stöger was the outstanding man in central midfield in Fortuna's comeback season - by the way, even after a few months of starting. To measure Baker against the Austrian would be unfair, however, since both have completely different talents and qualities. "I am sure that Lewis will help us on the route," emphasizes Pfannenstiel.

In any case, Fortuna would be enormously glad if the knots slowly burst at their most important entrances. Last but not least, this also applies to Dawid Kownacki's fast access, who started a fixed four-year contract after half a year on loan and has not yet arrived for Fortuna.