Victor Boniface, a forward for the Super Eagles and Bayer Leverkusen, is ranked 14th among Europe’s top U-23 dribblers by CIES Football Observatory.
In the most recent transfer window, Boniface cost €20 million to join Bayer Leverkusen from Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, but he has since developed into one of Europe’s most feared strikers. Boniface has emerged as the Bundesliga’s most promising young player since his summer transfer, winning the August and September Bundesliga Rookie of the Month titles.
The 22-year-old is now among the best scorers in the league with 10 goal contributions (seven goals and three assists) in just nine games. But as the new information showed, Boniface is more than just a goal scorer.
According to the CIES, the information is derived from league games and relates to both the sports level of the games played (expressed as a percentage variation from the overall average) and the success rate of the dribbles.
Players are only included if they have played at least 450 minutes in the current campaign. Throughout this season, Boniface has played 998 minutes in all competitions and averaged 4.5 successful dribbles per 90 minutes in his nine Bundesliga matches.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal is ranked first in the European Big-5 league, ahead of Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli, Burnley’s Luca Koleosho, Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Girona’s Sávio Moreira.
Notable names in the Top 10 strikers include promising Argentine talent Matías Soulé from Frosinone (on loan from Juventus), Bukayo Saka from Arsenal, and Takefusa Kubo from Real Sociedad.
At 8.09, Boniface is Leverkusen’s highest-rated player and the third-best in the top division. Serhou Guirassy (4), Jonas Wind (4), and Harry Kane (3) have won more Player awards than Boniface (2), his shot per game of 5.9 is the best in the division.
August’s Bundesliga Player of the Month went to Boniface, who nearly won the award in September.
