Victor Boniface is literally flying in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen in only his first season in Germany.
The influential Transfermarkt has conducted a special report as to why the recently capped Super Eagles striker has so far banged eight goals in nine matches.
The Full Report:
Perfect for Xabi Alonso’s smart tactics – why Victor Boniface is thriving at Leverkusen
Few clubs have stolen the attention of football fans around European football quite like Bayer Leverkusen this season. Under the stewardship of young head coach Xabi Alonso, the Bundesliga side have raced to the top of the German top-flight playing exciting, attacking football.
And few players epitomise this new-look Die Werkself quite like striker Victor Boniface.
Signed in the summer transfer window for just €20.5 million from Royale Union Saint Gilloise, the 22-year-old Nigerian forward has wasted no time settling into his new club. And in many ways he has quickly established himself as one of the most promising attacking talents in all of European football.
So what makes Boniface so good and why is he already thriving at the BayArena?
Boniface first broke on to the scene with Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt, where he first overcame a nasty ligament injury to then quickly prove his worth to the Elitserien side by scoring 23 goals and bagging eight assists in just 66 games. From there, he then moved on to Jupiler Pro League club Union SG.
Despite the step up in quality, the towering striker bagged 17 goals and 12 assists in 51 games over the course of just one season and is showing a similar ability to adapt to tougher leagues now at Leverkusen
Indeed, in his first nine games for Alonso’s side, Boniface has picked up no less than eight goals and three assists as the club have gone unbeaten in all competitions. To no great surprise, the young striker has shot to the top of most metrics across Europe’s top leagues, sitting top among all strikers for total shots, second only to Erling Haaland for shots on target and fifth for total goals and assists.
In other words, the Nigerian talent has taken to the Bundesliga like a duck to water and is showing no signs of slowing down.
As previously stated, the talent from Akure showed no signs of needing to adjust to life in Norway, Belgium or now Germany and that tenacity to succeed is certainly the main driving force behind Boniface’s success to date.
But the striker has also benefited from playing in a system at Leverkusen that certainly gets the best out of his talents as a dangerous, penalty-box striker. And the young talent has Alonso’s tactics to thank for that.
Since making the move to the club in October of last year, Alonso has implemented a possession-based system on Leverkusen that now allows them to dominate games and create plenty of chances for their forward players.
According to Opta, no Bundesliga side has created more build up attacks that contain 10 passes or more than Alonso’s side.
In fact, only Bayern Munich average more touches in the opposing box per game than Leverkusen, which goes some way to explaining why Boniface has clocked more touches of the ball than all but one striker in the German top-flight this season.
In other words, the young Nigerian striker has some excellent service into the box and he’s done a great job of finishing the chances.
