Unlike some success stories, no one will be able to claim the mentorship of Victor Boniface’s success. Because before experiencing the great adventure in Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen this season, the Nigerian experienced the great void and the Scandinavian headwinds. Recruited in 2019 by the Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt, his entry passport for Europe, Boniface could well have seen his career come to an abrupt end under the combined effect of a major knee injury, taking him away of the fields for 178 days, and the death of his mother, which will have sounded like the blow of Trafalgar at home.
“Indeed, this period linked to this injury (a rupture of the cruciate ligaments) was very difficult to live with. Because I had a lot of opportunities at that time. I was supposed to go to the World Cup with the Nigerian U20 team and sign for a Belgian club (editor’s note: Club Brugge). This period also coincided with the death of my mother. She died of an illness. I remember being called to tell me the news while I was in Norway. It’s so hard to lose your mom at that age (he was 20)…», Confided to SudInfo the native of Akure, capital of Ondo State in southwest Nigeria.
Alcohol as an outlet, depression as a consequence
Inhabited by a vague soul, the man who says he learned to play football with the Nigerian army where his grandfather served, quickly took a wrong turn. Isolated in the northern latitudes of Europe, almost 10,000 km from his cocoon of Akure, Boniface sank into alcohol. “I was depressed. I forgot football. I started living my life like any other person would, and also drinking.”he confided several months later.
A Norwegian story that started backwards and ended at high speed. In 2020, after more than 6 months of absence, he returned and was adopted by the club’s supporters. He was again cut short a few months later after another rupture of his cruciate ligaments, which this time took him away for almost a year. But resilient at heart and now free from his dependence on alcohol, Boniface takes the bull by the horns and establishes himself as obvious in the eyes of his coach. 6 goals in 15 league matches but above all qualities that burn the retina. His power, speed and sense of goal convinced the USG to recruit him.
Belgium as a launching pad
If his Belgian chapter could have been written three years earlier in Bruges, it was in the capital Brussels, with the Union Saint-Gilloise, another property of Brighton’s majority shareholder Tony Bloom, that Boniface set his suitcases. Recruited for €2 million in the summer of 2022, the slender Nigerian striker – who stands at 1m89 and weighs 85kg – consigns the performances of his predecessor Denis Undav to the archives. Incidentally author of 9 goals in the championship, it is mainly through his performances on the continental scene that he stands out. With 6 goals in the Europa League, Boniface ends his European campaign as co-top scorer in the competition (6 goals like Marcus Rashford).
And even if his club is eliminated by Leverkusen in the quarter-finals (5-2 cumulative score with a goal from Boniface), his performances do not escape the German club, which decides to bet 20 million euros on the three of them. months later. A real success so far. 7 goals, 5 assists, a budding relationship with Florian Wirtz and an August player of the month trophy in the Bundesliga which materialize a successful start to the season. To the great joy of his trainer Xabi Alonso: “I already knew that Victor (Boniface) was a top player when we faced USG in the Europa League last season. We were already following him. He has adapted very well to the team’s system and the pace of the Bundesliga.” At a time when the market for world-class number 9s is looking gloomy, it is probably his club which will now have to adapt to the pace of desire.
