"I'm here."
Jayden Nelson mouthed those very words after scoring for Vancouver Whitecaps FC to cap a 4-1 season-opening win Sunday at Cascadia rivals Portland Timbers – and cement a fantastic debut performance.
Nelson left his 62-minute shift with one goal and three assists. And while it helped that Timbers' center back Kamal Miller was issued an 11th-minute red card, the Canadian international winger was still brilliant at Providence Park.
"The first day I came here, I said that I really want the football to do the talking," Nelson said post-game on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
"That's what I want to do. I'm not satisfied, I want to keep going and I want to prove to everyone that I'm here to prove my potential."
Huge potential
Vancouver acquired the 22-year-old a month ago, completing a transfer from Norwegian top-flight side Rosenborg BK. The move prompts an MLS reunion after Nelson's two-year swing in Europe; he previously spent 2020-22 as a Toronto FC homegrown player.
Though it's just one game, new Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen saw flashes of the youngster's sky-bright potential.
"When you're a young player and you break through in the way Jayden did at the beginning of his career, then everybody starts to build up a hype about players and all of a sudden it's difficult to live up to that," Sørensen said. "It's normal and it's usual to have difficulties in a football career. It's more normal that there are difficulties than not.
"But the good thing about Jayden is that he has some potential; he has a good skill set with some things he does really well. Then he has to have the work ethic to keep working to round off his play even more. He's a young man who already now, early on in his career, has experienced a lot and done a lot. But I hope that we can help him grow into a player who can produce at a constant high level."
More to come?
Nelson isn't getting too carried away, despite becoming just the second player in Whitecaps history to record at least three assists and a goal in a match, joining now-Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies (June 9, 2018). He is also their fourth-ever player with at least four goal contributions in a match.
But there's little doubt about who Vancouver's star was on MLS is Back weekend. And there's a quiet confidence brewing in the Brampton, Ontario native.
"I played in this league, I know this league," Nelson said. "I played in Europe, I'm coming back. There's a lot of expectations on me. I have that on my shoulders and am coming here to prove that I can do it."
