Bayer Leverkusen head coach, Xabi Alonso has said that he is now expecting the best from Victor Boniface even as the Bundesliga rates the Nigerian a crucial cog in the club’s squad.
Alonso said this about Boniface who after a slow start this season bagged a brace against Hoffenheim on Matchday 3 and assisted Martin Terrier’s goal in a 4-1 win at the PreZero Arena.
“It was very important for his confidence and mood,” said Alonso after the game. “I’m now expecting the best from ‘Boni’. It’s always difficult for defenders to play against him [but] he can and must do more. He knows it and the team needs it.”
Alonso can feel confident that there is indeed more to come from the 23-year-old, who in footballing terms is entering what should be his prime years.
The goals had been coming, despite Boniface only breaking his mini-drought in what was his third Bundesliga outing this season. He had averaged 17 shots on goal across the first three matchdays, four more than any other player.
Some 100 shots on goal last term, at an average of four per game, might suggest he is a ‘shoot on sight’ kind of striker, but Boniface’s decision-making far exceeds that.
Indeed, he was 1v1 with Oliver Baumann after springing the offside trap last Saturday, before squaring for Terrier for an easier finish, and he regularly picks out his teammates.
The official Bundesliga website also wrote about the Super Eagles forward: “Victor Boniface, a crucial cog in Bayer Leverkusen’s all-conquering machine.
“Florian Wirtz has been tipped for a Ballon d’Or while Álex Grimaldo’s attacking stats make a mockery of his status as a defender but Boniface may just be Alonso’s most important player at Leverkusen.”
Boniface joined Leverkusen from Union Saint-Gilloise, amid little fanfare, in the summer of 2023. One short season later he had displaced Patrik Schick as Die Werkself’s first-choice striker before firing Bayer to a Bundesliga and DFB Cup double.
On what it is that makes the Nigerian No.9 so hot to handle, bundesliga.com takes a closer look: “First, a cold hard look at the numbers: in 38 games across all competitions, Boniface has scored 24 goals.
“He also uses his physically imposing frame to bring others into play and has added 11 assists. All told, he has enjoyed a direct goal-involvement every 68 minutes he has played for Leverkusen.”
