Boniface, the big promise
The 22-year-old who is said to be more valuable than Harry Kane
08/29/2023, 7:11 p.m
Victor Boniface is the new crowd favorite in Leverkusen. The Nigerian made his name in the Europa League games against Leverkusen and Union Berlin last year. He’s still playing in Belgium. Now he can attack Harry Kane in the Bundesliga, says someone who should know.
Some fans of the Bundesliga soccer club Bayer Leverkusen pay homage to Victor Boniface almost as much as Catholic Christians pay homage to Saint Boniface. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, because despite scoring two goals in two Bundesliga games for the Werkself, the 22-year-old Nigerian still has to prove his class at Bayer on an ongoing basis. But none other than Sky expert Lothar Matthäus believes the physically strong attacker, who was brought in from Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium for a fee of 20.5 million euros, even capable of Bayern Munich’s new superstar and 100 million man Harry Kane standing up to him offer: “We’ll see a few more goals from him. I see him fighting for the top scorer’s crown with Kane.” The Three Lions captain is currently just ahead of the Bayer ace with three goals.
Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart recently had a small tip in the direction of FC Bayern when he emphasized that if he had had 100 million euros available, he would have signed Boniface. Last Saturday, Boniface threw the Mönchengladbach defense from one embarrassment to the next in a 3-0 win at Borussia Park. Boniface fired eleven shots on goal (record) in the direction of Gladbach’s goal. “I’m very proud and happy about the goals. I’m very happy about the chance to show what I can do,” said the 1.90 m giant on the Sky microphone.
Bonfiace really wanted to go to the Bundesliga
Bayer was able to see how good Boniface is last season in the Europa League. “Unfortunately, he – he scored a goal against us – really liked it in our stadium,” said Bayer’s sporting director Simon Rolfes on Sky90 on Sunday with a smile. Union played 1-1 at the BayArena thanks to the Boniface goal.
Incidentally, the professional was very interested in coming to Germany. Rolfes: “He wasn’t interested in going into the Premier League, the Bundesliga was always interesting. It took a little longer with the club, but the player was always clear: I want to do it.” So far he should not have regretted the move to Bayer. It’s amazing how well the newcomer is already integrated into the Rhinelander’s combination game. In the 1-0 win in Gladbach, he scored a header after a wonderful ball relay, and in the 3-0, Florian Wirtz prepared the ball for the second Boniface goal with a deep pass.
It won’t be easy for Czech national striker Patrik Schick, who won’t be available again until October at the earliest due to an adductor operation. Maybe Bayer coach Xabi Alonso is also thinking of a double leadership Boniface/Schick – not a bad option either…