Nigeria’s Victor Boniface made history with Bayer Leverkusen last week as they beat Augsburg 2-1 last week to complete an unbeaten Bundesliga season. It was a night of celebration at the Bay Arena as Bayer Leverkusen were awarded the Bundesliga trophy etching their name in history forever.
Boniface also ends the season with an individual award. He deservedly won the Rookie Of The Season award. Since he signed for the German club last summer from Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise he has been on fire running a riot in the Bundesliga. He already won the Rookie of the Month award four times in a row earlier in the season. He won the award in August, September, October, and November during which he scored a total of seven goals and provided five assists in 12 matches. In December, he scored three more goals and provided two assists but was edged out of the award by RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons. Before it started to look like this would be a historic season for Leverkusen it was Victor Boniface’s quality in the team that helped them through the first few games. Unfortunately, Boniface picked up an injury in January that kept him out of football for three months. After returning from injury, he picked up from where he left off and continued scoring goals and helping the Leverkusen team.
Other Nominees for the award were
Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig)
Ian Maatsen (Borussia Dortmund)
Maximillian Beier ( TSG Hoffenheim)
Xavi won the Rookie of the Month award twice this season; in December 2023 and April 2024. His performance this past season for Leipzig has been outstanding and earned him interest from top clubs in Europe. It doesn’t look like he is transferring soon though as his parent club, PSG is keen on keeping him this season.
Maatsen arrived in the Bundesliga in the January transfer window on loan from Chelsea and immediately established himself in the team. The 22-year-old defender won the Rookie of the Month award in January after an impressive performance that essentially changed how Dortmund played. He is at least partially responsible for their good form since the turn of the year.
Hoffenheim striker Beier won the monthly award consecutively in February and March during which he scored six goals in eight matches.
All the nominees deserved their monthly awards and are excellent candidates for the Rookie of the season award but none is more deserving of the award than Boniface. Winning the monthly award four times in a row is not a joke and being part of a side that went unbeaten the whole season is a point to note as well.
Victor Boniface ends the Bundesliga season with 14 goals and eight assists in 23 matches; an impressive stat for a player who was out for a good chunk of the season. He missed 11 games this season and was still able to pull these numbers. One wonders how many goals he would have scored if he had been fit all season. His 22-goal contribution tally means he had a contribution in almost every game. He is Alonso’s main striker and his style of play makes him very flexible in positioning.
Boniface scored in many different ways this season and blew Bundesliga fans away with his performances. Fast, strong for good hold-up play, and technical enough to beat players and score goals or give assists. He was certainly one of the key players in Xabi Alonso’s historic unbeaten run with Leverkusen and that is not a small achievement.