We’re surprised this rumour has taken this long to come around, but it seems that Chelsea are finally being linked with Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface.
The 24 year old played an important role in Leverkusen winning the title last year, and remains a top star in the Bundesliga now as Xabi Alonso’s team try to keep pace with Bayern Munich at the top of the table.
CaughtOffside are reporting that the Blues are considering a £70m bid for the striker as they look to finally bring in some support and some competition for Nicolas Jackson. Our starting number 9 has a lot of positive qualities, and was being really talked up earlier in this season as it looked like he had worked out a lot of the weaknesses in his game.
However since Christmas the goals have dried up, and we’ve all been reminded of how foolish it was to not strengthen up front last summer. Could Boniface be the right man to add to the mix?
A strong reason Chelsea may avoid getting serious with Nigerian striker
One point that has been very well made is the fact that Boniface is Nigerian, so pairing him with the Senegalese Jackson would cause serious problems during the Africa Cup of Nations.
It seems a minor administrative matter, but that tournament comes around often, and we’ve all see title charges and relegation battles decided in the past by the inconvenient mid-season absence of a key player.
In the end, if a player is that good or that much of a bargain, you’d be able to overlook this sort of thing. But there’s no doubt that from a squad building point of view, this is exactly the sort of thing you’d like to avoid.
