Bas Dost has said he almost left Wolfsburg to return to the Netherlands last summer -- but he stayed and has become the Bundesliga's man of the moment.
Dost, 25, joined Wolfsburg in 2012 and scored eight times in his first 20 league games, but his form then suffered because of injuries and illness.
He has scored 11 goals in his last six games, but told German sports weekly Sport Bild he felt he had let people down during his bad run.
"I showed far too little," he said. "It annoyed me. Loads of people believed in me, but they were surprised and irritated to frequently see me in the stands.
"It was also difficult for me. I came into the dressing room and saw that I had not made the squad once again. That's why I wanted out in the summer."
Last summer Dost considered a return to his home country, where Feyenoord were interested in signing him.
He explained: "I soon came to conclusion that I would not do that. I was injured and had ankle surgery, and you just don't join a club then because you won't get a good start.
"I also had this feeling that my mission at Wolfsburg was not over yet."
Dost had to wait until the eighth game of the season before making his first appearance, and scored his second goal of the campaign in a win against Cologne before the winter break.
In the six games that have followed that break, he has struck 11 times and said: "I knew that I had not forgotten how to score goals, but my stats are not only luck. The winter break was very important for me.
"Instead of partying like I had done in the past, I was totally focused on the second half of the season, and when I scored against Bayern in the first match it gave me a lot of confidence."
Bas Dost: most effective striker in Bundesliga history. 13 goals, 819 mins; one every 63 mins. http://t.co/bH2NrRfdZP pic.twitter.com/OUcOl81IU0
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 2, 2015
His 13 goals this season have been scored in only 819 minutes, meaning he has the most effective strike rate in Bundesliga history -- and making a Netherlands cap increasingly likely.
"Of course I want to play for Holland," he said. "Maybe I will be there soon. I don't have any doubts that I have what it takes for that."