Nigeria have been churning out some thrilling forwards lately. Victor Osimhen and Reward Orban spring to thoughts, however a participant who’s at present making headlines is new Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface.
Africa has at all times been a gold mine of footballing expertise, however Scandinavian golf equipment are famend for integrating these younger gamers and harnessing their uncooked expertise. In 2019, Boniface turned yet one more success story of this mannequin after transferring from Lagos based mostly Actual Sapphire Soccer Membership to Bodø/Glimt in Norway.
However his European journey didn’t get off to an incredible begin. Boniface suffered a cruciate ligament damage in his first weeks on the membership, after which as soon as once more in the course of the 2021 marketing campaign. That may ordinarily be sufficient to fully disrupt a participant’s profession, however regardless of lacking virtually two full seasons, the striker was capable of bounce again and make a strong affect on the pitch.
Boniface performed fewer than 2000 league minutes at Glimt, however his expertise was unquestionable, and prompted Royal Union Saint-Gilloise to deliver him over to Belgium at the beginning of the 2022/23 season. Their gamble paid off spectacularly because the Nigerian was instrumental in Union SG’s title problem and helped the membership to the Europa League quarter-finals, ending because the match’s joint-top scorer with six objectives in 10 video games.
Boniface earned a properly deserved transfer to a high 5 league, signing for Bayer Leverkusen this summer season. Benefiting from Patrik Schick’s damage, the right-footed marksman has already made a stellar begin to his profession within the Bundesliga and is WhoScored’s finest rated participant in Europe to date this season.
Victor Boniface Switch Worth (xTV) – how a lot is he price?
Some have been shocked when Leverkusen parted with €20.5m for a participant with little expertise on the large stage. However that payment is honest based mostly on the Anticipated Switch Worth mannequin, and appears a snip given the inflated valuations flying round this summer season.
Boniface’s xTV has already gone up by over €6m since his unbelievable begin to the present marketing campaign. Given his excessive ceiling and up to date name as much as the senior Nigeria squad, there may be each likelihood that his switch worth will proceed to sky-rocket.
Victor Boniface strengths and weaknesses – what does the information say?
Don’t let his 1.90m body throw you off. Boniface is a lot greater than your typical quantity 9. Whereas he does supply an aerial and goalscoring risk, he additionally has a Harry Kane-esque potential to drop deep, and create alternatives for his teammates.
His stats from this season are based mostly on too small a pattern measurement and may to not be totally taken at face worth, however getting two assists in three league video games is actually indicative of that playmaking potential.
However you possibly can see this even throughout his damage ravaged spell within the Eliteserien. If you normalise his minutes performed on a per 90 minute foundation, Boniface averaged not simply a powerful 0.54 objectives but in addition round 8.5 likelihood creation passes and 0.14 help per 90.
With regards to his goalscoring, Boniface can rating each sort of objective – utilizing each ft, from distance or shut vary, from crosses, and likewise together with his head. He makes very intelligent actions to get into nice taking pictures positions as proven by a strong xG of 0.65 per 90 over the previous season within the Jupiler Professional League. And by outperforming his xG he ticks the ending field too.
The 22-year-old’s velocity and method on the ball additionally allowed him to make 3.12 progressive carries and a couple of.78 profitable take-ons per 90 over the previous yr. Each figures, compared with forwards from the highest 5 leagues, put him among the many high 5%.
Add to this the way in which he makes use of his physicality to carry up the ball and his consolation in tight areas, and you might be witnessing a participant who’s evolving into a really distinctive and hybrid centre-forward.
It’s nonetheless unclear what kind of a participant he’ll turn out to be going into the longer term. Xabi Alonso’s set-up will permit Boniface to hone his objective scoring abilities, whereas offering him the liberty to discover and additional develop his artistic instincts.
This makes his transfer to the BayArena very thrilling, and places him down as a participant to control for the remainder of the season.
This text was offered by FootballTransfers
