Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface to miss the rest of the year with a thigh injury

Sky Germany reports that Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface will be out for the rest of the year with a thigh injury he picked up on international duty.

Boniface is said to have torn fibres in his thigh and picked up the injury in Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Rwanda in the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations. The 23-year-old was substituted off in the 89th minute of the loss for Umar Sadiq. 

During his press conference ahead of Leverkusen’s game against Heidenheim at the weekend, head coach Xabi Alonso did not go into any detail on Boniface’s injury: 

“”He will miss a few games. I can’t say exactly how long. It won’t be six to eight weeks. We hope he can still play this year.”

This is Boniface’s second major injury of the year as right at the beginning of the year he missed a large part of the second half of the season with an abductor injury and never failed to reach his Hinrunde form. Boniface has been in good form up until his injury with six goals and one assist in 10 Bundesliga games. 

Leverkusen will once again have to rely upon Patrik Schick and the summer signing of Martin Terrier. Neither have been able to match Boniface’s level in the early parts of the season and with Leverkusen needing to catch up to Bayern Munich the pair will need to hit their stride. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan