Suphanat Mueanta's bid to make it in Europe may have come to an end for now.
After a year-long loan stint in the Belgian Pro League with OH Leuven was terminated last October, Suphanat is now back at Buriram United -- the same club where he burst onto the scene with a series of record-breaking feats as a 15-year-old.
Now 22, the fact that Suphanat finds himself back in Southeast Asia hardly means his hopes of making it abroad are over.
On the contrary, there is still every chance he will get another opportunity, especially if he continues to produce displays like the one on Wednesday evening.
With Buriram desperately needing a victory at home to Ulsan HD to keep their hopes of reaching the AFC Champions League Elite knockout round firmly alive, a draw looked on the cards as the game passed the 90-minute mark with the scores level at 1-1.
But in the third minute of injury-time, Suphanat emerged as their last-gasp hero -- for a crucial 2-1 victory -- when he ghosted in at the far post after losing his marker with a clever off-the-ball run to meet Dion Cools' excellent right-wing delivery with a composed first-time effort that was arguably more difficult that he made it look -- even from four yards out.
The quality of the finish was something. More impressive was how Suphanat had maintained his concentration up to that point.
He had been denied by VAR earlier through the slimmest of offside calls. Another decent opening in the 85th minute saw him look to the sky in despair after being denied one-on-one by Moon Jung-In.
Yet, Suphanat was not to be flustered or disheartened.
He kept his focus all the way till the end and, when one final chance fell his way, he was able to capitalise and make the difference -- as he has done so many times in the past already.
Suphanat's timely intervention means Buriram remain firmly in the hunt for the last 16. They have a three-point advantage over 9th-placed Shanghai Port and a draw against Gwangju FC next week would be enough to send them through.
Progress on the continental front is undeniably high on Buriram's agenda.
After all, they have dominated domestically in recent times, winning the last three Thai League 1 titles and cruising to another as they hold a seven-point lead in the current campaign.
While they have coped well in the absence of Suphanat, his return has added another damaging weapon to an attack that has no shortage of avenues to goal in the form of Guilherme Bissoli, Supachai Jaided and Lucas Crispim.
In the league, Suphanat already has six goals from just four starts since making his way back to Chang Arena.
That is even with missing an entire month of club duty as he represented Thailand at the recent ASEAN Championship, where he was the joint-second highest scorer with four goals and was named Best Young Player after helping his nation reach the final.
Suphanat will have benefitted from his Belgian excursion, even if may have ended sooner than he would have liked.
No longer a precocious talent expected to produce a match-winning cameo, Suphanat is now a consistent performer that should be expected to be influential figure for Buriram on a weekly basis -- even when compared to his foreign teammates.
He will see out the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign with Buriram -- where he will be hoping to a fourth Thai League 1 crown of his own, as well as helping the team go far in the ACL Elite.
Come the summer, when he would not even have turned 23, he can assess his options once again. Especially given Buriram have never stood in the way of their homegrown talents exploring greener pastures.
Following older brother Supachok Sarachat to Japan seems a savvy move. Another shot at Europe could also be on the cards.
Either way, just because he is now back from his overseas spell hardly means Suphanat's star has faded.
It is shining as bright as ever.