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…equals Haaland’s record
Johnny Edward
Nigerian forward, Victor Boniface, has won the Bundesliga Player of The Month Award for the month of August, beating Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane to the prize, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The Nigerian striker beat Kane and Alphonso Davies, Union Berlin’s Kevin Behrens, Jonas Wind of Wolfsburg and Benjamin Henrichs of RB Leipzig to the prize, which was created by the DFL Deutsche Fuball Liga in 2018/19, in cooperation with the Bundesliga’s official licensing partner, EA Sports.
The award is decided through a two-stage selection process that considers both the players’ individual performance data and a vote by fans and experts based on performances from Matchdays 1 and 2 of the Bundesliga season.
The striker’s performances also won him the Rookie of The Month award, meaning he is the first player since Erling Haaland in 2020 to be named Player and Rookie of the same month.
The 22-year-old has enjoyed a fantastic start to his Bundesliga career, creating Jeremie Frimpong’s opener against Leipzig as Die Werkself notched an impressive 3-2 victory before he found the back of the net twice in Leverkusen’s 3-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Nigerian also holds the record for the most shots in the Bundesliga so far this season.
On only the second match-day alone, against Gladbach, he fired 11 attempts on Jonas Omlin’s goal, as many as Harry Kane managed across Matchdays 1 and 2.
Boniface’s sheer hard work has left a great impression too; his 54 challenges are the highest in the Bundesliga, while his fierce pressing has helped him win 43 per cent of them.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian will be aiming to extend his early goals dominance over the English captain when Bayern Munich host Bayer Leverkusen in an early Bundesliga title contenders’ clash Friday (today).
Both new arrivals to the Bundesliga have started the season in exceptional style, with Boniface edging the early-season stats ahead of England’s all-time record goalscorer Kane.
Combined, they share an awesome tally of 10 goal involvements and have had such an impact in the opening three matchdays of the season. Boniface, who is the joint-second in the Bundesliga’s scorers charts, has scored four goals and made two assists, one more than Kane, who has three strikes with one assist.