Former Germany and Bayern Munich midfielder Lothar Matthaus has added his voice to the chorus of praise for Nigeria’s Victor Boniface, who has enjoyed a remarkable start to the 2023/24 season in Germany. Boniface, who joined Bayer Leverkusen from Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise during the summer, has been in superb form.
His impressive statistics include six goals and two assists in just five Bundesliga games, earning him both the Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month awards for August. With 11 goal contributions in his first seven appearances across all competitions, Boniface is widely regarded as one of the standout summer transfers due to his exceptional performance.
Leverkusen manager, Xabi Alonso, and the club’s sporting director, Simon Rolfes, were the first set of people to laud the Nigerian striker, with the former Liverpool midfielder saying he believes the 22-year-old will be a problem for defenders.
Former Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Cup winner Matthaus said he wasn’t surprised by the Nigerian’s bright start in Germany.
“On the contrary: it was incomprehensible to me that he played in Belgium for so long and no German club noticed him,” the 62-year-old wrote in his Sky column.
“Congratulations to Leverkusen — for the other scouting departments in the Bundesliga I say: 17 times the grade 5 that they didn’t bring this player from Belgium for this amount,” continued Matthäus. The 22-year-old striker moved to Bayer for a reported €20.5m.
“Perhaps some clubs had concerns because he had already torn his cruciate ligaments twice,” said the record international player:
“But after I saw him two or three times, I thought, ‘I’ll walk from Munich to Belgium for this player’.”
Boniface will aim to continue his impressive goalscoring form when Xabi Alonso and his troops travel to Mainz 05 for their next league assignment on Saturday.
