How Brighton missed out on Boniface
How Brighton missed out on Boniface
According to a UK publication, The Mirror, English Premier League side, Brighton Albion, made a blunder in the transfer market after missing out on the chance to sign in-form Nigerian striker, Victor Boniface, from Union Saint-Gilloise.
Boniface has been in fine form since joining Bayer Leverkusen from Belgium club Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer.
His impressive tally of six goals and two assists in six Bundesliga games has seen him pick up the league’s Player of The Month and Rookie of The Month awards for August.
Arguably, one of the best buys of the summer transfer so far going by his performance with 11 goals contributions in his first eight appearances in all competitions, Boniface has earned himself well-deserved praise.
Recently, Club Brugge coach, Ronny Deila, admitted that he was ‘stupid’ to pass up a chance to sign the Nigerian striker during his time as Valerenga coach and now The Mirror is reporting that Brighton may also have found themselves in the same shoe.
Leverkusen signed Boniface for just £16m from Brighton’s sister club Union Saint-Gilloise, who were previously owned by Albion chairman Tony Bloom prior to this summer.
Bloom relinquished his majority stake in the Belgian side in July after Brighton secured qualification for the Europa League last season.
The move was made to reaffirm that USG remained a separate entity from Brighton following communication that UEFA was prepared to investigate the relationship between the two clubs, who are now competing in the same competition.
But despite the segregation, the Seagulls have previously made the most of their bond with their Belgian counterparts, cherry-picking Union’s top talents including the Kaoru Mitoma, Deniz Undav and Simon Adingra.
Intriguingly, Brighton were in the market for a new striker earlier this summer – landing Joao Pedro from Watford in a club-record £30m deal for Roberto De Zerbi. However, the Seagulls opted to swerve a deal for Boniface after he netted 22 goals and registered 12 assists in all competitions at club level last season.
Now a cluster of Premier League clubs will be paying close attention to Boniface’s dramatic rise to stardom in Germany. He looks poised to net Leverkusen another substantial payday in the future although the Nigerian will be in no rush to depart Alonso’s side as they continue to make huge strides under their highly-coveted head coach.
Alonso recently paid tribute to his outstanding centre-forward, who looks set to rival Harry Kane and Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy for the Bundesliga Golden Boot this season.
“He’s not just a classic striker, not just a bomber – he’s complete,” said Alonso after Boniface netted a brace against newly-promoted Darmstadt. “We are happy with him, he has scored four goals so far, but we expect more.”
Speaking to German magazine Kicker, former Belgium boss Marc Wilmots claimed he immediately noticed Boniface had all the tools to become a hit in the Premier League when he saw the striker in action with Union.
He said: “I saw Boniface live 10 times in Belgium and immediately said: What kind of striker is that? He has everything. I quickly said that he is the best striker in the Belgian league and can move to Germany or even England. Leverkusen will have a lot of fun with him.
“If he increases his quota and scores 15 to 20 goals – he has the opportunity to play for a top club in the Premier League. His goal must be to move to one of the top six there in two or three years.”
